Dragon Rider
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: An original Astro Boy Pastiche. After a catastrophe on the International Space Station leaves the astronauts trapped with their life support dwindling, only Atom can save the day.
1. Chapter 1

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

_Important Characters introduced in previous stories:_

**Atom:** _You know, Tetsuwan Atomu, Astro Boy, or just Astro._

**Ken'ichi Yamamoto:** _Atom's foster father. He's a professor at the Polytechnic Institute of NY's Brooklyn Campus in their robotics lab._

**Sachiko Yamamoto:** _Atom's foster mother and wife of Ken'ichi Yamamoto._

**Dr. Albert Tenamann:** _Atom's father and creator. He is now living in Japan with his son Adam and his mother. Albert left the US after retiring from the top secret research lab located under the American Museum of Natural History, shortly after creating Atom while working on a secret government contract to create robotic soldiers. Atom chose to remain in the US._

**Adam Tenamann:** _Son of Dr. Tenamann who was critically injured in a traffic accident while his father was working on the robot soldier project. While Adam lay in a coma for months, from which it was thought he might never recover, Dr. Tenamann created Atom in his image with all of his memories downloaded into a computer from Adam's brain._

**Simon Green:** _The director of the museum complex research facility._

**Robert Levinson:** _Head of the computer lab in the research facility. Robert is a general nerd/geek engineer type that maintains the research facilities computer equipment, and has built many special devices for government projects._

**I.S.A.A.C. or Isaac:** _A computer program daemon that serves as an intelligent AI interface for all of the computers in the museum complex. Isaac was created by Robert Levinson, though he's modified his own programming and spread himself world wide across the Internet._

**Cora Smith:** _Atom's female friend at school. Cora is the only person outside of Atom's immediate 'family' that knows he's a robot. Atom saved Cora's life when he caught her in mid air after she fell off the roof of her apartment building. ("Atom and Cora")_

_Notes:_

_Part of this story takes place on the international space station. I've studied NASA documents and videos so I could describe the details of the space station as accurately as possible, but I've also changed some details around to fit my story requirements. What I describe as happening may not be entirely possible. We authors call this 'poetic license'. Deal with it!_

_Acknowledgements:_

_**National Aeronautics and Space Administration:** For their excellent on-line info on the ISS and mission profiles._

_**SpaceX Corporation: **For their Falcon-9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, from which this story gets its title._

_****__National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Hurricane Center: ____For information on tropical cyclone storms. You guys make living in Florida much safer!_

___**Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground dot com / **____**tropical**____**: **____I love your blog, especially when ____there is a threat out in the Atlantic looking me 'eye to eye'! _

**Chapter 1**

"**Big Ivan", Earth Orbit, several hundred miles above Siberia, 1993**

The Soyuz spacecraft took up position a safe distance from the derelict satellite, but close enough to allow the two cosmonauts to easily drift over under the power of their EVA backpacks.

"There he is Comrades," Gleb Gurin, pilot of the Soyuz spacecraft said. "The hulking giant that we have been assigned to put to rest. Isn't he impressive?"

Big Ivan was a relic of the cold war. It had been silent now for years after its electronics had been fried by a huge solar flare during the peak of the last sunspot cycle. The dead juggernaut had been a test platform for a nuclear weapons launcher as well as a spy satellite. It had been equipped with a dozen dummy test missiles, each powered by a hypergolic solid fuel rocket engine and equipped with a small dummy warhead. During testing, six of the missiles were fired at targets in Siberia to judge the accuracy of such a system. The results were inconclusive, and immediately after the first tests came the fall of the Soviet Union and the virtual end of the cold war. Big Ivan became redundant, and was forgotten, at least until the agreement with the United States and other countries for building the International Space Station. Now the very existence of Big Ivan was an embarrassment for Mother Russia, and it had to be disposed of. The monster was too big to de-orbit: large chunks of the military satellite would survive re-entry and there was no guarantee as to where they would land. The only safe thing to do was to disassemble as much of it in space as possible and push the rest into a higher orbit where it could safely hide out of the way of the new space station.

"So now we get to clean up the mess that our former Soviet leaders created?" Dimitry sighed.

Zakhar shrugged his shoulders. "That's why we get paid the big roubles, comrade."

The two cosmonauts, Dmitry Aristov and Zakhar Vlacic donned their EVA backpacks and left the safety of the spacecraft. Gleb Gunin, the Soyuz pilot, released the docking clamps and the rocket booster they had ferried up to orbit drifted free. Since Big Ivan's on board rocket booster was no longer functional it had been necessary to bring up an external one to lift the big satellite into a higher and more stable orbit. The cosmonauts carried along a tool kit and some test instruments they'd need to carry out their assignment. Their first item of business was to attach the rocket booster to Big Ivan's bottom half. They removed the dozen or so bolts holding the existing rocket engine nozzle to make room for attaching the booster, which was designed to bolt in place of the part they'd just removed. This part of the operation went smoothly, guaranteeing that at the very least, Big Ivan could be lifted up and out of the way. They next had to disassemble and remove the remaining test missiles.

Dmitry removed the bolts holding the hatch cover in place. As proof that Murphy's Law works just as well in space, though the Russian's refer to it as "the Law of Meanness," the final bolt refused to budge.

"Chyort voz'mi!" Dmitry cursed under his breath.

Zakhar applied a longer handle to the wrench, gave it a big shove, and the bolt broke free.

Once inside the Satellite, the two spacemen began to disassemble the six remaining missiles. They removed the dummy warheads first and then detached the engine body from the lower nozzle and tail fin assembly. Again the screws on the final two units were frozen and neither man could remove the final screw on the nosecone or tail assemblies.

"They won't fit in the Soyuz cargo bay this way!", Dmitry groaned.

"Da, we'll have to leave these two in place", Zakhar agreed. "Let's work on the engine now, we don't have much time left before our oxygen is used up".

Dmitry connected the portable control unit to Big Ivan's computer bus. He switched it on and went through the diagnostic menus. Unfortunately Ivan's electronics were too badly fried for him to read any of the sensors.

"There's no way to get a reading on how much rocket fuel is left in the tanks. The engine ignition circuits are not working anyway. If we leave it as is, I think the worst case will be a very slow leak over a long time," he guessed. (In actuality Big Ivan's tanks of highly volatile hypergolic liquid fuel were a bit more than half full. The big satellite was a potential bomb.)

Zakhar agreed. "That's my take on it too. Anyway we don't have enough time to safely drain the tanks without the risk of an explosion. Let's tell Korolyov we've done what we can and have them command the booster to change Big Ivan's orbit."

Aristov and Vlacic extracted themselves from the inside of Big Ivan. They attached the parts they had removed to the tether line and signaled to Gleb Gunin in the ship to pull them back in. Once inside the Soyuz craft with everything stowed in place, the cosmonauts closed the hatches. Gunin backed the spacecraft further away from Ivan and radioed the RKA center in Korolyov that they were ready to fire the booster.

The commands to raise Big Ivan into a higher orbit were radioed up from the RKA control center. The three cosmonauts watched as the rocket engines they had just bolted onto the satellite fired and as Ivan slowly gained momentum and disappeared from view.

In the control room back in Korolyov the mission controllers watched a count up display keeping track of the length of the burn. They calculated that a burn of four minutes and twenty-seven seconds would be required to achieve the desired orbit. So far it had been going smoothly, the sensors in the attached booster were returning a condition green.

Sergei Ostapyuk, the mission command chewed on the end of his pencil.

"Three minutes, eight seconds", he mouthed to himself looking at the clock. The radar readings showed that Ivan was now high enough but still in an elliptical orbit. Every second more that the rocket fired would raise the perigee of Ivan's orbit until they had achieved the desired circular path. At T + three minutes and forty-five seconds the pressure in the rocket's main chamber started to fluctuate.

"Nyet! Not now!" Ostapyuk cried.

Seven seconds later the engine shut down.

Ostapyuk looked at the radar readings and the computer printouts. It could have been worse.

At its closest point of approach to the International Space Station's orbit, even with the station at its lowest assigned orbit of two hundred five miles up, Ivan would be far enough away to be invisible except with some optical aid, and then only on the sunlit side of the earth. The other side of Ivan's orbit would carry it close to where the Chinese were placing some of their spy satellites, but looking down in the other direction. They might get away with it. Big Ivan should remain in the new orbit long enough for the current administration to ignore. It would be someone else's problem much later.

**Pyongyang, North Korea, June 1st Present year**

Kim Jong-un was NOT in a good mood.

"The damn Chinese had just launched another satellite to spy on me," he muttered to himself.

The newly placed object passed over North Korea several times a day and would afford the Chinese a good view of his missile emplacements and nuclear enrichment facilities. He couldn't believe that the Chinese government was cooperating with the devils in the United States and Russia.

He picked up his phone and contacted the idiots in the KSA. He couldn't understand why his hand picked leaders of his Korean Space Agency couldn't figure out how to get a simple satellite into a desired orbit. Even the Chinese had figured it out!

The KSA launches had of course been thinly disguised missile tests masquerading as legitimate space exploration or communication satellite missions. The world hadn't been fooled. Nor had the world been impressed. None of the space launches had achieved what the Koreans had wanted.

Kim Jong-un yelled over the phone demanding that they get another satellite up to shadow the Chinese one. He had to show those dammed fools in Beijing that they could not mess with him and get away with it. His ranting on the phone made him sound like another madman some seventy years earlier in Berlin.

**International Space Station, Cupola**

Astronaut Sally Furth stood in the Cupola and gazed out the many view ports at the blue and green world below her. She could spend all day here with a camera and notepad, except that she had her official assignments to take care of.

Sally's parents had named her after now former astronaut Sally Ride, the youngest woman ever to go to space. Ride had been Furth's childhood hero as well. The saddest day of her life was when Ride had succumbed to cancer the previous year, before Furth had ever been in space. She was thrilled to be following in her hero's footsteps.

As she looked out the view ports, Sally could see the coast of Africa just coming into view. She noticed that the tropical wave that had come off the coast on the last orbit now looked a bit more impressive. It had emerged from the landmass in just the worst place and was drifting in just the worst possible direction. It was the first of many waves that would be created by the interaction between the landmass of Africa and the trade winds of the Atlantic.

"That thing is going to get a name before the week is out," she thought to herself.

Today was the first day of the Atlantic Hurricane season and the first name on the year's list of Hurricanes was Adam.

**Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan**

The last two attempts at launching the Progress spacecraft had failed, and almost ended with disaster. Several of the engines on the Soyuz launch vehicle had shut down just before the hold down clamps would have been released when the countdown reached zero. They had been able to stand down the launch before the rocket had left the pad, otherwise it would probably have had to have been self destructed before it had gotten too far, or it might have even fell back to earth and exploded.

Launch director Korotayev had reviewed the analysis of the postmortem for the last two failed attempts. He felt certain that his engineers had solved the problem. Again the countdown started. At T-4 seconds the engines ignited and built up thrust. At T-2 seconds the on board computers indicated an over temp condition in two of the outboard booster's engines. The system was again able to stand down before launch. That was it. Korotayev knew what he had to do. He reported his sorry recommendation to the RKA director.

The launch vehicle for the manned Soyuz spacecraft was almost identical to the one for the Progress rockets. This was the second time in recent memory that a supply chain in the rocket engine manufacture had produced some defective parts. The head of the RKA had no choice but to order the immediate dismantlement and inspection of all the Soyuz rocket engines. He couldn't take any chances of a failure on a manned launch. At least the timing wasn't the worst. Crew rotation on the ISS wasn't due for a few weeks, and there were two Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station to evacuate the crew in an emergency. In addition the ISS was currently well stocked and SpaceX had a Dragon resupply mission almost ready to go. They'd have time to find the problem and fix it.

**David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn**

Atom's science class was abuzz with excitement. They had been studying all about the science being done aboard the International Space Station, and now they had just been told they were going to participate in a video conference with the astronauts on board the station in two days. It was going to be the perfect end to the semester. Cora was especially ecstatic. She knew Sally Furth's bio by heart, and couldn't wait to talk with her.

"That's what I'm going to do when I graduate college," she bragged, "I'm becoming an astronaut!"

Atom looked at the poster of Furth hanging on the wall of their science class room with dreamy eyes. Cora caught a glance of his face and stepped between him and the poster.

"What are YOU looking at?" she demanded with a jealous tone in her voice.

Atom looked up at Cora. "Just admiring a brave woman," he said.

"Well she's MY hero!" Cora replied.

Atom looked a little miffed. Cora quickly changed gears and added, "But so are YOU!"

She gave a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was looking before planting a big kiss on Atoms lips. Atom's face turned a bright red. At that instant Mike Finkle walked over. Atom gave him a look that could melt steel. Mike backed off, but not before he had opened his trap.

"So what are you two love birds going on about?"

Cora slapped him on the face. "Didn't you learn your lesson yet, Dufus?"

Atom sneered at him and asked, "Say Mike, how would you like to wake up on top of the Brooklyn Union Gas tower?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Mike stammered.

"Try me!" Atom answered.

"You know Cora," Atom said after Mike had walked away with his tail between his legs, "I'd sure like to go into space too. Maybe we could become astronauts together?"

Cora whispered in his ear, "Yeah you'd really make a perfect astronaut, you wouldn't even need a spacesuit or rocket pack!" she laughed.

Atom looked to see that no one was in earshot. Cora was the only student in the school that knew of Atom's identity as a super robot after he'd caught her in mid air when she fell off the roof of her apartment building. Mike suspected something, but he couldn't prove anything.

"Not really. My jets are air breathing, they don't work in space. I'd still need one of those 'buck rogers' packs to maneuver around just like any body else."

"So you're not really perfect, are you?" she giggled at him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 2**

**SpaceX Corporation, ****Hawthorne, CA**

At first Elon Musk thought that the piece on the web comparing him to Iron Man's Anthony Stark was flattering and humorous. Then one day, someone put a working model arc reactor complete with flashing blue LEDs on his desk. A few days later the name plate on his secretary's desk was changed out to one reading "Pepper Pots." The latest joke was someone leaving an Iron Man suit from a Halloween shop hanging in his office closet, and he realized that things might soon get out of control. The price of fame, he sighed as he opened his email that morning.

There was the usual ton of corporate financial reports that he let his CFO handle, though he was copied on every one. What peaked his interests were the technical engineering status reports, Musk was a hands on CEO in the engineering sector. The progress report on the upcoming ISS resupply mission was what caught his eye this morning. It seemed that things were going well ahead of schedule, so much so in fact, that the Falcon-9 launch vehicle could be ready to ship to the KSC a full two weeks ahead of time. Preparation of the Dragon cargo spacecraft for the mission was also going better than planned, though the cargo manifest from NASA hadn't been fully certified yet. After a bit of thought, Musk came to a decision.

He picked up the phone and dialed Tim Buzza's extension. The corporate VP of Launch and Test answered the phone himself.

"Hello Mr. Musk, Buzza here."

"Good Morning Tim. I assume you've read the status reports from the assembly floor," Musk said.

"Yes, Elon. I think we are going to give NASA a big surprise, this time we will be waiting on them instead of the other way around."

"Let's take advantage of the situation. We've been given the green light to move our on-site assembly and mission preparation into the VAB now that the shuttle missions are history. Can we ship the Falcon a week early, and take advantage of the time to move into the VAB ahead of schedule?"

"I don't see why not, Mr. Musk. In fact we could probably move the schedule up by as much as ten days if you'd like."

"Excellent, make it so!" Musk hung up with a beaming smile on his face.

"Maybe I am a bit like Iron Man," he thought to himself.

**David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn**

As they had done everyday since their first week in the sixth grade, Atom and Cora walked home from school together either hand in hand, or arm in arm. Cora couldn't believe how the time had flown by. Next year they would be starting High School together. She started to daydream as memories flowed.

From their first day in Middle School Cora had been attracted to Atom. It may have been a maternal instinct, at just four feet tall Atom was the shortest kid in the class, and he seemed so weak and vulnerable. _How wrong she had been about that! _ Then again, it may also have been because she had lost her best friend in her sister, who was now on the other side of the country in college.

She might have grown out of her puppy love for the cute little kid, except for that fateful first warm day of spring as their first year of middle school was coming to an end. Cora had used the lock picks, just as her sister had taught her, to gain access to the roof of her apartment building to sunbathe, just like the two of them had been doing for the past three years. Mike Finkle, that ogre, had been stalking her and cornered her up on the roof. What happened next still gave Cora nightmares. Mike chased after her and she tried to get away. She was only wearing her bikini bottom, flip-flops, and a towel to protect her modesty. Cora tried to run around him to get back to the stairwell, but she ran too close to the edge of the roof and slipped on a wet sheet of metal flashing. She fell over the low knee wall at the edge of the roof and was hanging over the side by her finger tips, screaming for help as she felt her grip giving way.

Cora started to fall to the street below her. She remembered falling forever, but in reality she was in free fall for only a second before Atom had caught her in mid air in his arms. When Cora felt her fall being broken, and looked at Atom's face as both of them were hovering four stories above the ground, she fainted. When she came to, she was back on the roof, lying on her lounge chair looking up into Atom's brown eyes. That was how Cora had learned just what Atom really was, and how she had fallen deeply in love with him.

Atom was no longer the tiny little kid he had been in the beginning. Cora didn't understand it, but Atom's creator-father had been able to modify his framework to allow him to grow. At any rate, he was now a good half foot taller than when she had first met him. He was still the shortest kid in his class, but he would pass for someone in his school grade.

They reached Cora's apartment building and shared a quick kiss goodbye. Tomorrow was another school day, when they would repeat the ritual.

**June 3**

**Somewhere in North Korea**

Dong-hyun Hwan, chief engineer and director of the KSA nervously looked over the technical data at his disposal. He seemed to be in luck, the rocket scientists working under him would have another test missile ready for launch in a few days. He had recently helped complete the prototype spy satellite that had been in design for the past year and a half. So Kim Jong-un's "request" would be accomplished within a safe time frame.

Dong-hyun only had to make sure that the launch site would be ready, and he'd do that in person. It would mean a personal inspection, and a bit of brow beating, but he'd been there and done that several times before. Hwan prayed that this time everything would go perfectly. His life could be on the line.

**David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn**

It was probably the first time ever that the students in Atom's science class had entered the classroom early. Mike ran up and turned on the television monitor before the teacher could reach the switch. Mr. Wilson gave Mike a glare that said "Sit down and shut up!" at about 100 db.

"OK, class," he said, "I'm glad to see you all here so early. As you know today is our live conference with the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Once the conference begins you can ask them questions at anytime with the microphone on my desk."

He switched the input setting on the TV monitor to connect it to his desk computer, which was already logged into the NASA website for the two way conference. Right on time, the connection was established with the space station and the first thing they saw was station commander Chris Hadfield smiling into the camera. The veteran astronaut said hello and started to introduce the rest of the station's crew.

"Hello students. My name is Chris Hadfield, and I'm the current commander here at the International Space Station, though in reality we all work together. I've lost count of the number of shifts I've put in up here, and I like to think my title is in name only. First let me introduce our newest member of the astronaut community, Sally Furth."

The camera panned to the left and zeroed on on the smiling spacewoman. Sally's hair was cut short, but it still stood up on end due to the micro gravity, as if she was sitting on top of a running Van de Graaff generator.

"Hello class. My name is Sally Furth. This is my very first trip into space and let me tell you I'm having the time of my life up here! My specialty is meteorology and climatology. I'm studying the effects of global warming from space. I'm also studying tropical weather, and a bit later I'll show you the latest disturbance that has formed in the East Atlantic. Now I'd like to introduce you to the Russian members of our team."

Again the camera turned and the faces of the two cosmonauts filled the TV screen.

"Hi, my name is Boris Dostovalov, and this ugly fellow to my left is Peter Gorbunov". Peter gave Boris a punch in the arm and replied, "He's really the ugly one, and jealous because I get all the hot chicks back home."

Off camera Chris spoke, "Just ignore them kids, those two love to kid each other. I'd better keep them off microphone before they break into telling some dirty jokes, in Russian of course."

The class broke into a bunch of giggles and Mr. Wilson smiled holding back his own laughter.

"Finally meet our mission specialist from Japan, Yuji Tanaka, who is working in the Kibo laboratory module." The camera panned once more and Yuji bowed politely to his audience.

"Normally," Hadfield said, "the ISS has a crew of six members, but we are currently short one member as the European space agency needed more time to prepare the experiments they were going to send up. We'll be back to our full complement after the next crew rotation cycle."

The camera followed Yuji toward the Kibo module.

"This is the Kibo Laboratory module," Yuji said. "The name means 'Hope' in English. This is the largest module in the station. In here we can perform research on space medicine, biology, materials production, biotechnology, communications, as well as detailed Earth observations. We also have facilities for growing plants and fish."

The video tour left Kibo as Tanaka stayed behind to feed his fish.

"This module is called Harmony," Chris said as they entered the next unit. "The docking ports for the Dragon spacecraft that bring supplies up to the station, and take spent items back to earth, are in this module. If we continue on through this module we will enter the Columbus Laboratory that was supplied by the European Space Agency. Our EVA spacesuits are stored in these two modules, and there is an airlock to the outside in Columbus."

The camera showed the tour leaving Harmony and into yet another section of the space station.

"We are now in the Destiny Laboratory. Destiny serves as the sleeping quarters for four members of the crew, the remaining two sleeping stations are in the Russian section. Destiny also has kitchen and bathroom facilities which are duplicated in the Russian end of the station. Off to the side here," the camera panned to where Chris was pointing, "is the external storage locker. All of our supplies that are unloaded from the Progress or Dragon cargo ships end up in here. Everything from toilet paper, to food and water, or oxygen bottles."

The video tour continued to the next section of the station.

"This module is called Unity. It serves to join the Russian section of the station with the part that we have just been in."

"Next, here is the Tranquility module," Sally Furth announced. "It serves as one of the station's control centers, mostly for the US side of the station. There is another control hub in the Russian side as well. Just off this module is my favorite part of the ISS, the Cupola."

The camera panned off of Sally's face and toward the inside of the Cupola. This section of the space station was mostly windows looking down toward the earth.

"I can sit in here for hours and stare at the earth below me," she said. "Now as I promised, here comes a lecture on meteorology."

The camera zoomed out the window to look down just off the coast of Africa.

"Down there you can see the first tropical depression of this hurricane season. If this storm develops winds that exceed 39 mph it will become a tropical storm and be given a name. The first name on this year's list is Adam."

Mike gave Atom a poke in the side. "Hey Adam the Atom, your clouds are showing!"

Atom grabbed Mike's right arm with both hands and twisted.

"Indian Burn!", he snickered.

"OUCH, CUT THAT OUT!", Mike cried.

Mr. Wilson grabbed Mike by the arm and dragged him to the other side of the room.

"Stop being a trouble maker or I'll have you sit out the rest of the class session in the hall, Mr. Finkle!"

"Now if the wind speed increase to over 74 mph, the storm becomes a hurricane," Sally continued. "Hurricanes are rated by their wind speed which can exceed 200 mph for the strongest ones at category 5. A category 1 storm has winds below 90 mph. The center of the storm is called the eye. All of the hurricane's winds revolve about the eye. Inside the eye wall it's actually calm. If the eye of a hurricane passes overhead, you can actually see blue sky and sun, there will be no wind or rain. Many people have been fooled into thinking the storm was over once they found themselves in the eye, only to be hit by the back side of the storm when the rear of the eye wall passed over them. The back side of the storm is often worse in intensity than the front!"

Cora picked up the microphone on Mr. Wilson's desk and asked, "How large is the eye, and how long does it last, the calm I mean?"

"Good question. That depends on the size of the storm's eye and how fast it's moving. Most hurricanes have eyes ranging from 5 to 120 miles in diameter. Sometimes they can be smaller though. In 1992 Hurricane Andrew was thought to have an eye less than 5 miles in diameter. Typically the calm in the eye will last for under an hour, though in some cases it could be many hours."

"Now our two comrades will take us into the Russian sector", Sally finished up.

Commander Hadfield carried the camera along while the two cosmonauts led the way. Peter and Boris finished showing the class the Zarya and Zveuzda modules of the station just as the bell rang indicating the end of the period.

"Thank you very much for the tour," Mr. Wilson told the astronauts. Behind him the class joined in a chorus of "Thank You" as the Internet connection closed down.

**International Space Station**

As soon as the camera was turned off and Command Hadfield was out of sight of the two Russians, Peter Gorbunov suddenly groaned and held his hand over his lower abdomen. Boris helped his fellow cosmonaut sit down (well float down anyway).

"I think I've been eating some bad caviar", Peter joked. "Maybe I need to go to the medical section for some antacid."

"Chush' sobach'ya," Boris replied, "I warned you that you should have not come on this mission. Now it looks like your appendicitis has come back for real this time. We're probably going to have to get you back down to earth for surgery. Let's get you some antibiotics and take your white count."


	3. Chapter 3

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 3**

**June 4**

**Somewhere in North Korea, KSA launch site**

Dong-hyun Hwan had been in the blockhouse for several hours now. Twice the countdown had been stopped for some minor problem. The missile stood waiting on the launch pad for the go ahead to leap into space. The rocket was based on an extended Scud design that had been stolen from the Russians.

The Scud itself was nothing original, its roots went back to the WWII German V2, graphic vane thrust deflectors and all. While the original Scud had a single engine, the North Korean version used three of them in a cluster for its first stage and a scaled down version for the second. Strap on solid fueled boosters completed the design. Today's payload was a crude, but hopefully effective spy satellite that had medium to high resolution cameras and radio monitoring equipment to get a look down at the Chinese. It also had radio jamming equipment that the Koreans hoped would render the Chinese spy satellite ineffective.

All of that however, depended on the launch vehicle getting the satellite close enough in orbit to intercept the Chinese bird at least once every other orbit. The next launch window would occur in about forty minutes, and Dong-hyun Hwan was working quickly with his engineers and technicians to fix all of the loose ends that had last stopped the countdown.

**Florida State University**

T.N. Krishnamurti looked up from his desk to see a familiar face staring down at him. The head of the university's meteorological department had been too absorbed in his work to notice the famous TV weatherman-meteorologist who had just walked in on him.

"Brian! Long time no see! What brings you back here?"

Brian Norcross smiled down at his long time associate and friend.

"I was in transit between Atlanta and Miami and had some free time, so I made a side trip to Tallahassee to visit my Alma mater, and also to pay you a visit. I'm also interested in your latest advances in computer modeling, I thought I might be able to get some advance information before the rest of the community does."

"Well, I am onto something. Right now getting accurate hurricane track and intensity forecasts more than five days out is a bit of a crap shoot. The Super Ensemble model does a decent job, but I'm looking at ways to make it better. I've tried to add some logic based on chaos theory to the model, but the equations are so interlocked that they simply don't WANT to be solved by conventional means. We now have a bank of quantum computer co-processors made by D-Wave added to the mix. I think those chaos equations have just met their match."

"That sound's almost like a breakthrough, T.N.," Brian complemented.

"Not yet, though I'm already seeing some big changes in the model. Take Tropical Depression #1 out there right now. It's on the verge of becoming Tropical Storm Adam, it might even have reached that status as we are speaking. Right now the big four models are all predicting the system to become a hurricane eventually and recurve somewhere in the mid Atlantic. The NOGAPS model thinks it will become a major hurricane and slam into the Florida coast somewhere mid-state."

"You do realize that the NOGAPS model has not been very accurate in the past few years, the NHC no longer relies on it for forecasting." Brian answered.

"True, but my new model is actually agreeing with it! Also something else bothers me about this, and it sounds almost like Deja vu all over again."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You, of all people should know! The same thing happened with the forecasts in '92."

Brian Norcross DID know all about that. In 1992 he had remained on the air for twenty four hours straight, talking South Florida through the night of Hurricane Andrew. It had been the "fifteen minutes of fame" event that lead to the upturn in his career and his current position in charge of hurricane reporting at the Weather Channel.

"Damn! Andrew all over again?" Brian said.

"I hope not. Otherwise, it looks like the guys at the Kennedy Space Center are going to have to ride this one out."

**International Space Station**

Chris Hadfield found Sally Furth in the Cupola. She was making observations of the newly formed tropical storm.

"So how do things look weather wise back on earth?" He asked.

"See those clouds out there?" she pointed. "That's Adam. The guys at NOAA in the NHC thing he's going to turn to the north and miss the US main land. I hope so, because otherwise the Florida coast may be looking at a Cat-3 storm within a week's time."

"Well we don't rotate out of here for a few more weeks. Adam will have dissipated by then."

"How is Peter doing?" she asked.

"His condition seems under control for now. There is still a possibility that his pain may return and his white count will spike upward again, but for now the antibiotics seem to be keeping things under control. Mission control is keeping open the option of returning Peter and Boris to earth if surgery is indicated for Peter."

**North Korea, KSA Launch site**

The countdown was going smoothly for a change. All of the missiles systems were well into the green readings and Dong-hyun Hwan saw no reason to stop the countdown. The clock had already passed T-5 minutes and the final launch sequences were coming on line. Hwan chewed on the end of his pen and waited.

At T-1 minute control was transferred to the rocket's on board systems for final checks. Hwan verified that radar tracking was operational before releasing the final lockouts to allow the launch sequence to run to completion. At T-20 seconds the fuel pumps came on line and engine pressurization was verified. At T-10 seconds final guidance systems checks completed. The count reached T-5 seconds and engine start was initiated. The missile's three rocket engines ignited and the hold down clamps strained against the thrust. 5-4-3-2-1 ZERO!. The Korean rocket slowly lifted off the pad and rose skyward. It was a picture perfect launch. Tracking verified that the rocket was following its flight plan to the letter.

At exactly the planned moment the second stage separated and started its engine. The launch vehicle was on track to achieve the planned orbit. Hwan was ecstatic. He had done it! If Kim Jong-un had been monitoring the launch, he'd probably be gloating himself. Then, at the last minute Edsel Murphy stepped in. The satellite refused to separate from the second stage. The combination of the top half of the missile and its payload were almost in the correct orbit, but not quite. The flight path to orbit could not be achieved without the final separation and firing of the satellite's orbital injection motors.

Dong-hyun checked the computer readouts to see just how bad it was. It couldn't have been worse. The rocket and satellite were now on a collision course with the recently orbited Chinese satellite. He decided to give the missile the self destruct order. That didn't work either. They would collide in about twenty minutes.

The Korean engineers tried everything they could to correct the issue. They issued various commands up to the rocket but couldn't achieve satellite separation from the missile or initiate the self destruct command. After that it seemed like every happened in slow motion.

******NBC Nightly News**

_"Brian Williams reporting for the NBC evening news. Late this afternoon North Korea again launched a missile test under the pretense of a communications satellite. NASA and US Air Force tracking stations have confirmed the launch and the CIA suggests the possible payload of a reconnaissance satellite. The Peoples Republic of China has reported that one of their communications satellites has gone missing and is suggesting that the North Korean rocket collided with it as a deliberate act of aggression by that country. NASA is now tracking space debris that could be the result of such a collision. The US space agency has verified that no US satellites, including the Hubble Space Telescope, or the International Space Station are in any danger from a collision with any of this debris, as they are in totally different orbital paths." _

******Big Ivan**

Twenty minutes after the second stage had cut out the combined satellite and second stage of North Korea's missile test collided with the Chinese satellite. The large spy platform belonging to China had a self contained booster rocket to allow it to change orbits many times to reposition itself in the sky. As it had just been placed into orbit, its fuel tanks were full of the volatile hypergolic propellant. The collision caused the rupture of those tanks and both the satellite and the Korean missile were blown apart by the resulting explosion. Large shards of shrapnel were scattered about in orbit. One large, razor sharp piece, about the size and shape of a javelin, was shot out like an arrow.

Laying in its path was Big Ivan. The razor sharp spear didn't have to puncture Ivan's outer hull as the cosmonauts that had retired the derelict platform had removed the hatch panels, and had not replaced them. Like a scalpel in the hands of a skilled surgeon, the projectile sliced through a wiring harness shorting several connections together, and severing several others. The end result was a neat rewiring and reprogramming job. The sword then neatly cut through the skin of the two fuel tanks, just enough to cause them to weep a little bit, but not spill their guts all at once. Finally the sharp pointed end came to rest inside of a control panel where it shorted two contacts.

The long dormant relic of the cold war woke up slightly. A timer connected to the rocket motor started a countdown to ignition. Unfortunately Big Ivan's booster engine's combustion chamber no longer had the rocket nozzle attached. Instead it was blocked by the rear end of the external booster the cosmonauts had bolted to the bottom of Big Ivan, using the same mounting holes that the nozzle had used. The old test platform's rocket engine was now like a car with a potato rammed up its exhaust pipe, which was not a good thing.

The explosion in space and the collision with many smaller bits of debris had altered Big Ivan's orbital velocity slightly. His new path would bring him slightly closer to the International Space Station, not close enough to be a collision danger, but close enough to spot with the naked eye when lighting conditions were nominal.

******June 5 **

******International Space Station, Cupola**

Cosmonaut Boris Dostovalov stood with commander Chris Hadfield in the Cupola. The two of them scanned the sky with binoculars. They had received a message from NASA that a large unknown satellite had been tracked in an orbit that would come close to theirs, though orbital calculations showed no danger of a collision.

"I think I see it," Boris said pointing.

Hadfield turned to face in the direction Boris had indicated and sweep with the binoculars.

"Yes, there it is," he confirmed. "But I don't recognize it."

"I do," Boris sighed. "That is an embarrassment left over from the USSR in the days of the cold war. We called him Big Ivan. It was a test of a space based nuclear missile platform. It also served as a reconnaissance satellite. It was decommissioned years ago and was supposed to have been lifted into a much higher orbit. I wonder what its doing out here?"

"Are we in any danger from it?" the commander asked.

"I don't see how. It's a dead hulk. So long as its orbit doesn't intersect with ours, no problem. Right now it's only getting close enough to moon us with its bare ass."

Boris checked his watch.

"You'll excuse me, I need to check in on Peter. I hope he had a good 'night'."

Peter Gorbunov woke up in a sweat. His fever had spiked during the 'night' and the pain in his abdomen had returned. He felt quite tender in his lower right hand side. He looked up as Boris approached.

"I'm not feeling well this morning, Comrade. Better check my white count and shoot me full of antibiotics."

Boris drew a test tube of blood from Peters right arm and took the sample to the laboratory. The ISS had a miniaturized Coulter Counter that could perform basic blood analysis. Sure enough, Peter's white count was very high.

He prepared a syringe of vancomycin and injected his fellow cosmonaut in the buttocks.

"We'd better prep you for a little ride home, Comrade." Boris told him. "The antibiotics will buy you some time but you're going to need surgery. You've developed an acute case of appendicitis and we're not prepared for surgery up here. Your flight suit should protect your tender guts from the g forces during the way down."

******CNN afternoon news report**

"_Early this morning, the two cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station made an unscheduled return trip to earth via their Soyuz spacecraft. Cosmonaut Peter Gorbunov is suffering from acute appendicitis and required surgery. Fellow cosmonaut Boris Dostovalov accompanied him to operate the controls of the spacecraft. We've received reports from the hospital that Cosmonaut Gorbunov is doing just fine after appendectomy surgery."_

******International Space Station**

******Destiny Module**

The remaining three astronauts had settled in for the 'night' in their sleeping quarters in the Destiny module. With the station now understaffed many of the experiments would have to be put on hold. Mission control decided that they would regroup in the 'morning' and see about saving as much of the experiment work load as possible. Yuji Tanaka was the last of the group to prepare for sleep. He busied himself in the Destiny module writing up reports from his experiments in Kibo earlier in the day.

Not far away Big Ivan was making his closest approach to the International Space Station along his orbit. Deep inside his damaged circuits, the clock controlling the igniter for his rocket engine was reaching terminal count. Floating around inside the old war horse was a cloud of fuel droplets from the two tanks that had been slightly perforated earlier. Just as the two satellites were eye to eye with each other, Big Ivan's countdown reached zero. The long dormant rocket engine roared to life. With its exhaust port blocked by the back of the external booster engine, the pressure in the internal rocket's combustion chamber quickly passed critical. The over pressure shut down sensors no longer operated, so rocket fuel continued to pour into the engine producing exhaust thrust that had no where to go, it was like a pressure cooker without a safety valve. Seconds later the engine blew apart, spilling its fiery guts. The blast ignited the explosive atmosphere, setting off the remaining fuel in the tanks, and both dummy missiles still on board. Big Ivan exploded into a huge fireball that sent chunks of white hot metal flying into the path of the space station.

No one on board the ISS was aware of the blast, you can't hear an explosion in space. There were no view ports on Destiny facing the man made supernova. The only warning came from a slightly too late radio message sent from a NASA tracking station in Australia. By the time the radio warning had arrived the decompression alarms on the space station were already sounding. The astronauts saw on their computer monitors that the warnings had come from the adjacent Harmony and Unity modules, so they quickly closed the air lock doors on both ends of Destiny, which apparently hadn't been breached. They were safe for the moment but had yet to make a complete appraisal of their condition.

_Author: I'll stop here with a cliffhanger. Hey, just noticed that Atom wasn't even __in this installment. Oh well, he'll be almost central to the story from this point on! _


	4. Chapter 4

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka._

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_Author: We'll roll the clock back a few minutes prior to the point in time when Big Ivan exploded so I can make things sound a bit worse ..._

**International Space Station, Destiny Module**

Yuji Tanaka was busy completing his experiment reports for the day's activities in the Kibo laboratory. Chris Hadfield and Sally Furth had already entered their sleeping compartments, and were trying to unwind before going to sleep. The first indication of trouble were two soft vibrations followed by a distant hissing noise with a gentle breeze that blew past Yuji's face. Seconds later came the blaring klaxon of the decompression warning, which was loud enough to wake the dead. Moments later Chris Hadfield had propelled himself out of his sleeping compartment in his underwear, he and Yuji arrived at the systems terminal at the same instant.

"What the hell!" the commander cried. The system console showed a map of the ISS with the Unity and Harmony modules highlighted in red.

"We have breaches in two modules and are venting atmosphere," he said. "Quick, close the hatches at both ends of this module, NOW!"

Chris 'ran' toward the Harmony end while Yuji closed the hatch leading to Unity. The system indicator showed the atmospheric pressure in Destiny slowly rising back toward normal as the rest of the station's air was vented out to space. The life support systems in the rest of the station powered down under computer control to conserve the bottled air. They could be powered up again once the hull breaches were patched.

Hadfield quickly took inventory of the module that they were now confined to. They couldn't leave Destiny without spacesuits, but there were only two of them in the module. They couldn't open the hatches to the rest of the station without pumping down the atmosphere in Destiny first, but that would leave one crew member breathing vacuum. They were trapped.

Another alarm, this one not quite as loud sounded to indicate an urgent computer message from the ground. It was from a tracking station in Australia. "_Radar indicates explosion in space near your position. Large debris field heading in your direction. Take evasive action immediately!"_

"Well that was helpful! NOT!" Chris muttered.

Sally Furth had crawled out of her bedroom compartment, while her two companions had taken care of locking down the two hatches at both ends of the module. She was now at the system console reading through the station systems readouts, page by page.

"Guys we might have a problem." she yelled out. "There seems to be a spike in the power drain on Destiny's electrical system. The voltage on the main bus is slowly dropping. It looks like the solar panels are not able to provide enough output to keep the storage batteries on a positive charge. Either some of the panels, or the wiring between them and Destiny were damaged, or there is a short circuit in the system somewhere."

"How bad?" Chris asked.

"At the current rate of discharge we might not have enough power to run the air regeneration pumps in 48 to 96 hours. Before that it's going to start getting a bit cold in here. Once the equipment shuts down we might have another 12 to 24 hours or breathable air in the module, though we could extend that by sharing the oxygen tanks on the two spacesuits we do have."

**June 6th**

**David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn**

Mike Finkle ran into the classroom holding his smart phone in his left hand. He pointed to the poster of Sally Furth and yelled to Cora and Atom, who were already in the class room.

"She's gonna DIE! They're All gonna DIE!"

Cora snapped. She grabbed Mike by his right arm and pulled him into a Half Nelson hold with all her might. Mike dropped the BlackBerry, Atom caught it before it could hit the ground.

"LET GO OF ME BITCH!" Mike cried out in pain as Cora nearly pulled his arm out of it's socket.

"He's not exactly making it up," Atom said softly, motioning for Cora to release Mike. Atom held up Mike's phone for her to see. The screen was loaded with a CNN web page with the headlines "ISS HIT BY SPACE JUNK, VENTING ATMOSPHERE."

Cora released Mike and he grabbed his phone out of Atom's hands, and walked away.

Mr. Wilson had witnessed the confrontation between the students and turned on the TV monitor to display a live CNN news feed. It was a news conference with NASA's director, Charles F. Bolden, Jr.

_CNN: "Director Bolden can you fill us in on the current situation at the International Space Station?"_

_Bolden: "Several hours ago the ISS was struck by space debris when a rouge satellite in a close by orbit exploded sending chunks of metal into its path. Two of the station's modules were compromised and vented atmosphere into space. The astronauts were in an adjacent module that was not affected by the debris. They are currently sealed off from the rest of the station and their life support system is functional. They have access to their food and water stores so there is no immediate danger from lack of sustenance."_

_CNN: "Is the Soyuz spacecraft still operational? Can they return to earth?"_

_Bolden: "Unfortunately the module they are in contains only two spacesuits, and there are three astronauts in that module. In order for them to reach the Soyuz they would have to cross through a damaged module, and close the hatches behind them to re-pressurize the rest of the station. Since they only have the two spacesuits that isn't possible without exposing one of them to the vacuum of space."_

_CNN: "Then it appears that they have to wait for a rescue mission?"_

_Bolden: "Yes, that's the way we read things."_

_CNN: "When will a rescue mission be launched?"_

_Bolden: "Well, with the Shuttle program discontinued we have to rely on the Russians to launch a rescue mission. Unfortunately their entire fleet of Soyuz rockets have been disassembled to find a problem with the rocket motors that has been causing engine shutdown within seconds of launch. They have not yet been able to find the problem, and won't risk launching with a defect that could result in a catastrophic failure and destruction of the rocket and launching pad. At the moment they think they might have an answer in two weeks time."_

_CNN: "What about the SpaceX rockets?"_

_Bolden: "SpaceX has proven that they can launch a resupply mission, and in fact they should have a rocket ready for that within days. However the Dragon spacecraft is NOT man rated, and has so far ONLY been used to ferry equipment and supplies to and from the space station."_

_CNN: "Well let's hope that the Russians can fix their problem quickly! How long can the astronauts remain coupled up in that one module?"_

_Bolden: "We haven't completed a thorough check of the station systems, but it appears that their life support system wasn't compromised and they have access to most of their food and water supplies. If we don't detect any problems with the life support system they can wait for the Russians to get us up to them."_

_CNN: "Well lets keep our fingers crossed!" _

Atom's face turned white. Cora looked at him and was scared.

"Mr. Wilson, I don't feel to good, can I be excused? I need to go out and get some air," Atom whimpered.

"OK Mr. Yamamatto, I'll give you a hall pass," Mr Wilson replied seeing the look on Atom's face.

Atom walked out into the hall and Cora ran after him.

"You're not SICK!" she yelled at him. "You CAN'T GET SICK! What kind of bullshit is this? What's up!"

Atom felt cornered by Cora. He didn't want to tell her what was going on, but he also couldn't lie to her, not to Cora.

"Cora, I can tell when people are lying. That guy Bolden was either not being truthful, or was holding back on some bad news," Atom said. "I could tell by his voice that he was under stress and was sugar coating his remarks. I think the astronauts are in real trouble up there. I've got to do something!"

"What can you do?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, but I know someone who probably does. I've got to run off. I might not be back for a few days, maybe even a week. Call my foster dad and tell him to call me in to school sick if I don't come back right away, OK?"

"OMG! You're not thinking of flying into space to rescue the astronauts are you?"

"If that's what's required, I will!"

"In that case PLEASE be careful will ya!"

Cora grabbed Atom around the neck and pulled his face close to hers and gave him a long hard kiss. As Atom walked away she sighed to herself, "My hero!"

Atom entered the staircase and ran up to the top floor. There was a screened door locked with a padlock, blocking access to the remaining flight of stairs up to the roof. Atom grabbed the padlock on the door and twisted it, snapping the shackle off. He ran up the remaining flight of stairs up to the roof. Once up on the roof he leaped into the sky and flew off in the direction of the American Museum of Natural History.

**Museum Complex**

"Hello Atom"

It was Isaac that first noticed him when he had walked into Simon's office. Both Simon and Bob were busy staring at the computer screen reading the NASA data dumps. Isaac was in the background but he had seen Atom walk in through the web cam.

"Hi guys," Atom said weakly.

Simon turned to face Atom and blurted out "shouldn't you be in school?"

"I just flew here from school. I guess you guys heard about what's happening up at the space station?" Atom replied.

"Yes, we've been reading the data downloads right from the horses mouth, so to speak," Robert said.

"Is it as bad as I think it is?" Atom asked.

"Have you heard anything besides the official news reports, Atom?" Simon asked.

"I just heard the news conference on CNN with NASA director Bolden."

"And you know he's not telling the whole story, right Atom?" Isaac asked.

"How would Atom know that?" Simon asked.

"Atom can read stress in a persons voice. He can see it in the way they move their eyes. He can function as a polygraph," Isaac answered.

"Remind me never to lie to you Atom." Simon laughed.

"OK Atom, I'll give it to you straight," Robert started.

"The astronauts are trapped in the Destiny module as both the adjacent Unity and Harmony modules have been breached and have vented their atmosphere to space. The Dragon spacecraft docking ports are in Harmony, as are the EVA spacesuits they would need to to effect repairs on the station. They would have to go through Unity to reach the Russian side of the station, and the Soyuz spacecraft, to return to earth. The problem is they have only two spacesuits in the Destiny module, and they can't exit Destiny without opening it up to the vacuum of space. Therefore, one of them can't escape if the other two do. They do have enough supplies for several weeks, but they don't have that much time. What Director Bolden hasn't told the press is that their life support systems are going to fail within a few days. Some of the solar panels, or the wiring from them, were damaged by the space debris. They expect a total power failure in the Destiny module within 48 to 96 hours. From that point on it's an Apollo 13 scenario all over again."

"So when are they going to send up a rescue mission?"

"As you probably heard on the news report the Russians can't get anything up into space for more than a week. The only thing NASA can do, is to figure out how to keep them alive that long. I've got Isaac looking at the power drain problem to see if he can engineer a solution." Bob said.

"Isn't there any other way to get up to the ISS?" Atom begged.

"NASA can send up supplies using the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship, but they can't send astronauts up in it. The Dragon isn't man rated. It can hold a pressurized atmosphere, but it doesn't have a suitable life support system to purge CO2. Also the Falcon 9 launch vehicle hasn't yet been certified for manned flight. Until they can guarantee a safe G force curve during liftoff and ascent NASA isn't going to let anyone ride atop the Falcon. A resupply mission isn't the problem, they need to get an astronaut or two up there to fix the breaches in the adjacent modules so the crew can reach the Soyuz spacecraft to return to earth."

Atom studied the schematics of the ISS that Bob had up on the large screen computer monitor. He looked Simon squarely in the eyes and asked, "Could a single astronaut enter the station from Harmony and mange the required repairs by himself?"

"I think NASA has a suitable protocol for that, but it's academic as the Dragon spacecraft isn't man … r . a . t . e …." Simon's voice trailed off toward the end of the sentence as the result of Atom's unblinking stare into his eyes. It was almost as if the boy android was trying to plant a suggestion into Simon's mind by telepathy.

Atom didn't break his eye to eye contact with Simon and asked, "Well, is the spacecraft ROBOT RATED?"

**Long Island Expressway, in route to Republic Airport**

Right after Atom had dropped his bombshell remark, Simon, Robert, and Isaac got to work. Simon got NASA director Bolden on the phone and told him to set up a meeting with Elon Musk at the KSC at once. Isaac hacked into the FAA computers and inserted a flight plan for Simon's private jet for a trip between L.I. and the Kennedy Space Center, with priority handling. Bob called over at Republic airport and got the flight crew where Simon's jet was hangared, to prep it for flight, fully fueled, at once.

They traveled east on the L.I.E. at a good rate of speed in Simon's new Tesla model S sedan. Simon had traded in his Corvette for the high tech electric car that could actually keep up with the 'Vette in a road race. Just before they had committed to the trip Simon had questioned Atom about his decision.

"Are you really sure you want to do this Atom? I don't know how dangerous it will be for you for one thing, and for another, if you go through with this there will be no turning back. The whole world will know about you. Your secret will be out. It won't be like in 2011 when the Japanese government kept the details about your help at Fukushima a secret."

Atom was quite adamant about his decision, as he had taken Asimov's three laws of robotics to heart. "If I can be of any help I can't refuse to do it, no matter what the consequences are for me. I can't put my well being ahead of the astronauts safety."

Simon drove the automobile into the general aviation entrance of the airport. He pulled the car into the open hangar that housed his airplane. Simon had recently purchased the Beachcraft Starship though an aircraft broker. Ever since he had heard of Rutan's involvement with the project he had wanted one. The high tech aircraft had been a bit too far ahead of its time, and didn't sell very well. Raytheon had decided not to renew existing leases, and to scrap the remaining fleet, however a group of loyal owners had banded together to buy up as many of the remaining aircraft as possible. When one of them became available on the used market, Simon had jumped at the chance to finally own one.

The tower immediately opened their flight plan direct to the Kennedy Space Center, and after entering the taxiway they were immediately cleared to the runway for takeoff..

"VIP treatment all the way," Simon bragged, "It's not what you know, it's who you know."

"And having a helpful computer daemon hacking for you doesn't hurt," Bob added.

It was a smooth flight, they were in the air for about four hours. They were cleared for landing at the shuttle landing strip at the KSC.

As they descended to traffic pattern altitude the aircraft passed over US 1. Atom looked out the window at the ground below. He noticed that there was a lot of construction going on in the area. The electric power company had left several dozen 75 to 100 foot tall, spun steel utility towers lying along the road side waiting to be installed. There were also several huge spools of one inch thick, steel cored, aluminum power cable waiting to be hung, once the utility towers were bolted in place. Along the roadway a new wider overpass was under construction, and several large steel I beams were lying along the road waiting to be hoisted into place.

The aircraft turned onto final approach and set down smoothly on the runway.

"Another 'greaser'!" Simon bragged as he set the plane down without a bounce.

Simon pulled off the runway and was cleared to taxi right up to the Vehicle Assembly Building. He shut down the aircraft and the three of them walked the short distance to the VAB.

**Kennedy Space Center, Vehicle Assembly Building**

Charles F. Bolden was waiting for them. Elon Musk was in the background inspecting the newly arrived Falcon 9 rocket that was now being assembled in place onto the mobile launcher, which would eventually take it to complex 39B. Bolden greeted Simon and Robert, but raised a question at the sight of Atom.

"What is the kid doing here?"

"That 'Kid' is essential to our plan Mr. Bolden." Simon told him. "Why don't you call Mr. Musk over and take us to a conference room where we can have some privacy. What I have to show you is still considered top secret."

Bolden had Musk paged over the P.A. system and and then led the group into a side room where they could talk.

"Mr. Musk, this is Simon Green and Robert Levinson from the G.T.T. in N.Y.," Bolden made the introductions.

"Happy to meet you gentlemen," Elon replied. "I understand you have a possible solution to our rescue problem?"

"Yes we do," Simon started. "We are proposing a robotic repair mission launched by the Dragon supply ship."

Atom was standing a few feet away from the conversation looking out the large picture window at the Falcon 9 launch vehicle slowly being raised into position atop the mobile launcher. Elon Musk had noticed Atom, and had also noticed that no attention to him was made by the other two visitors. Looking at the back of Atom's head, something rang a bell for him. Could it have been the two distinctive hair spikes held up with gel? He walked closer to the boy and stared closely at him. Musk got face to face with Atom and looked closely into his eyes. Suddenly something clicked in his mind, and he grabbed Atom's left hand and pressed his first two fingers against the boy's wrist. He then repeated the test pressing his fingers against Atom's neck where his carotid artery would be. Musk backed away and whistled.

"I heard a rumor about that kid from some contacts in Japan." he said in Simon's direction, pointing at Atom. "At the time, I chose to believe it was an urban legend based on some old manga. If only half of what I've heard is true, this is so going to work!"

Simon nodded to Atom. The boy removed his shirt and pressed his right index finger against his chest in the key spot. The skin under his finger glowed blue and the outline of a panel appeared framed in blue light. Atom opened his chest panel to prove what he really was. Elon Musk's face seemed to say "_I thought so!_", while Charles Boldon's jaw dropped almost hitting the floor. Adam closed the panel, replaced his shirt and smiled.

He offered his hand to Elon Musk who accepted the handshake. "So am I going to get to ride the Dragon?" he asked.

"You sure as hell are!" Elon said as he patted Atom on the head. "But first the guys at NASA are going to have to give you a crash course on how to become an astronaut."

_Notes:_

_G.T.T. Stands for "Government Think Tank"_

_The events at Fukushima in 2011 are to be covered in a future story idea of mine to be titled "Harbor Wave"_


	5. Chapter 5

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

* * *

_Author: I'm posting the next chapter a little earlier this weekend because of the holiday and family plans. The next update should be on Wednesday or Thursday.  
_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**June 7th,**

**Kennedy Space Center, Vehicle Assembly Building**

The instant that the crisis at the International Space Station had started to unfold, Elon Musk had ordered the Dragon Spacecraft to be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center at once. They could finish any last minute preparations in Florida, if necessary. NASA put an Air Force C5A Galaxy cargo aircraft at SpaceX's disposal to ship the spacecraft across the country. The Dragon fit into the Galaxy's cavernous cargo bay, with over a foot to spare in the width.

Early that morning the Air Force jet landed on the Shuttle landing strip, and its precious cargo was loaded onto a flat bed truck for transport to the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA and SpaceX had put their crews on 24/7, round the clock shifts, to get the Falcon-9 launch vehicle assembled and ready for launch. By the time the Dragon spacecraft had arrived work on the rocket was almost complete, and it was ready for the spacecraft to be lowered into place.

The Dragon was composed of three major assemblies. The bottom part was the 'truck' which contained storage for unpressurized cargo, and support for the capsule mounted above. The truck also contained the two folded up solar panels that would provide electrical power for the spacecraft, once it was in orbit.

The Capsule was the only part of the spacecraft that would return to earth. It contained the pressurized cargo, and rocket engines for maneuvering in space. The manned version of the Dragon, to be called 'Dragon Rider', would be configured for a crew of up to seven astronauts, or a combination of a smaller crew content and some cargo.

The final part of the spacecraft was the nose cone that shielded the capsule during assent. It was ejected prior to separation of the spacecraft from the Falcon's second stage.

Earlier, Atom had watched from the floor of the VAB as the heavy traveling cranes lifted the second stage of the Falcon-9 to be mated with the first. Now he was observing how the technicians were preparing the Dragon's truck to be made ready for mounting on top of the now completed rocket.

One of the technicians was having a problem unbolting the access panels on the truck necessary to reach the hardware that would secure it to the booster. Atom walked over and took the tool from the man, and proceeded to remove the stubborn bolt.

"You've got quite a grip for a kid", the technician told him.

"_If you only knew!," _Atom thought to himself.

With the truck ready to be hoisted into place, the SpaceX technicians attached a harness to the top of the unit. The harness consisted of three heavy cables, each one connected to an attachment point on the circumference of the truck. The other end of each of the three cables was connected to a single point where the crane's lifting cable would attach with a large closed end hook. A NASA engineer started up one of the lighter duty traveling cranes, that had last been used during the Apollo days to lower the command module onto the top of the Saturn V moon rocket. The crane's hoist motor acted balky at first, but the engineer knew how to operate it, and soon got the thing to smoothly lower its cable so the SpaceX men could attach it to the lifting harness.

The NASA crane operator set the winch in motion and the Dragon's truck slowly rose up into the air. Once it had reached the 190 feet in height needed to clear the top of the rocket, the crane moved horizontally to put the bottom of the spacecraft above the Falcon. Then the operator slowly lowered the truck section down to where the waiting SpaceX techs, standing on the elevated work platform beside the rocket, could gently push it into place as it was lowered down. The truck clicked into place perfectly and the techs started to tighten the fasteners to lock it down to the rocket.

While the truck section was being hoisted into place, Atom was helping the SpaceX crew work on preparing the capsule part of the spacecraft. This time the access panels came off easily, but the technicians couldn't reach deep enough inside to loosen some of the fittings. Atom was able to fit his head and shoulders through the opening, and reach inside to perform the operations. After he pulled himself out of the crawlspace, the crew patted him on the back in appreciation for his help.

Now the lifting harness was attached to the top of the capsule. Once again the crane's hoist refused to start up, and the crane operator worked the control levers to get the motor into gear. The lifting engine finally engaged, and the cable drum began to take up the slack. Slowly the capsule rose into the air. As it reached about 150 feet above the ground, the hoist transmission began to make a horrible grinding sound. The capsule rose another ten feet or so, when a loud BANG came from the gearbox. The cable drum started to spin freely, and the capsule began to fall to the floor, 150 feet below.

There was a loud chorus of "OH SHIT!" from the technicians on the ground looking up. Atom saw the Dragon capsule in free fall and reacted. He flew up toward the top of the building, and grabbed onto the lifting harness with both hands. Atom's arms strained against the several tons of the capsule's weight and inertia. The jet engines in his legs fought against gravity to stop the fall. His face contorted into a grimace, as he strained to keep the spacecraft from smashing into the ground. When he and the capsule had fallen to within twenty feet of the VAB's floor, his vertical velocity finally reached zero. At that point the capsule was now slowly rising above the ground under Atom's power. He reached the 190 foot level and started to waltz the capsule over to the waiting truck section. The technicians on the elevated work platform realized that things were now back under control, and started to use hand signals to guide Atom in. Slowly, a millimeter at a time, Atom lowered it down. The technicians grabbed at the sides of the capsule and gently nudged it into place. Atom felt the weight disappear from his hands as the capsule sat down on top of the truck. He shut down his jets and sat down on top of the capsule, panting. Suddenly a loud chorus of clapping hands and whistles rose from the floor of the VAB. Atom felt a blush appear on his cheeks.

Then, as if nothing had happened, Atom hopped off the capsule and lighted onto the work floor. He grabbed some tools and helped the technicians fasten the capsule to the truck. It took a few hours to finish the assembly of the spacecraft. The last piece to be put in place would be the nose cone. The NASA technicians were starting to attach a hoist cable to the nose cone, but Atom wasn't about to trust the machine. He leaped off the raised platform and flew down to the VAB floor. He grabbed onto the attachment point on the top of the nose cone meant for the hoist cable, and flew up lifting the nose cone into the air. Once again Atom inched over to the top of the rocket and lowered the final piece of the spacecraft into place. The SpaceX technicians then fastened it down. The Falcon was now ready for its trip to the launch pad.

**Charles F. Bolden's Office, NASA**

Directory Bolden looked at the status reports from the International Space Station. They had two to three days worth of power left for the life support systems. The Assembly of the SpaceX rescue mission was on track. It would take the better part of a day to transport the mobile launcher to complex 39B and fuel the rocket for launch. During that time Atom would be given a crash course in the space operations that he would have to perform. There were also several hours of final preparation and the loading of necessary supplies into the Dragon capsule prior to launch. All in all it looked like they might have 24 hours to spare, but any glitches would cut that back to a real close call.

Bolden also studied the weather forecasts. Hurricane Adam had formed in the Atlantic, and was now advancing on the central Florida coast. Most of the models still predicted the storm would turn to the north before reaching the coast, but one or two outliers now indicated a direct hit on the KSC. Intensity forecasts were calling for a category 3 to 4 storm by the time it neared the peninsula. Just one more thing to worry about.

Robert Levinson and Simon Green entered the office.

"Are we sure this is going to work?" Bolden asked nervously.

"I hope you don't have any doubts about the ability of the Dragon spacecraft to dock with the station on its own control. The astronauts won't be able to help since they can't get into the Harmony module. I have absolutely no doubt about Atom's abilities. He WILL get the job done if SpaceX can get him up there. Which reminds me I need to make an international call to Japan."

"Feel free to use my phone," Bolden said walking away from his desk to make room for Bob to sit down.

Robert Levinson picked up the phone and dialed Albert's number directly.

"Hello Bob, I was sorta expecting you would call after hearing the news about the space station. I was wondering when Atom would get involved!" Albert said when he answered the phone.

Bob quickly filled in the details for Albert.

"Will Atom need to go EVA outside the ISS?" Albert asked.

"We don't know, but the need may arise." Robert said.

"Atom's leg jets won't work in space as is because they are air breathing engines. I did however modify them before I installed them in Atom. They can operate in an ion rocket mode if supplied with an external propellant source. There is a place inside Atom's chest cavity on his lower left side to insert a small gas canister of Xenon gas. That's the same substance NASA uses in some deep space probes to power ion rockets. It won't supply much thrust, but it will help him maneuver around outside the station. There is also a socket on Atom's back along his waistline where an external tank providing a greater volume of propellant could be attached to provide more thrust. I'll email you the spec's on the internal canister that will fit Atom and on his external connection. The guys at NASA can then provide the required material."

Robert used the computer on Bolden's desk to access his email. He printed out the attached PDF file to the laser printer sitting next to the monitor and handed it to the director.

"Can you have the wonks take care of this?" he asked.

Bolden looked at the specifications and nodded. "It will be ready before Atom enters the spacecraft for liftoff of the mission."

"Have the astronauts been informed about our plans?" Simon asked.

"We've let them know that a rescue mission is coming. We haven't yet given them the details."

Simon had looked up the bio's on the astronaut's. He noticed that Yuji Tanaka had been a scientist at the Japanese Science Ministry before joining their astronaut team. He had been working at the Science Ministry during the Fukushima crisis.

"Can I speak with astronaut Tanaka?" Simon asked.

"I can arrange that." Bolden picked up the phone and dialed an access code. He then entered another set of numbers and the line was switched to the communications network between the KSC and the ISS. Bolden asked for Yuji to come to the radio.

"Hello, am I speaking with astronaut Tanaka?" Simon asked.

"Yes, this is he."

"Yuji-san, my name is Simon Green. I work with a government think tank where a Dr. Tenamann was once employed. I think you might find that name familiar."

"Yes, I remember him. He is the American scientist and engineer that created the robot which helped with the crisis at Fukushima"

"Correct. Well the same robot is now preparing to make the required repairs so you guys can escape your confinement up there."

"Atom caused quite a stir in my country back then. Our government kept his secret from leaking out of the country at your government's request. It was a shock to see a real life 'Tetsuwan Atomu', and created in America at that. I hope that when we all get back to earth his secret can finally be revealed."

**Kennedy Space Center, Astronaut's Center **

NASA's crawler had grabbed hold of the mobile launcher and started to yank the Falcon-9 rocket out of the Vehicle Assembly Building. It would take over eight hours to travel the distance from the VAB to launch complex 39B.

Atom lay down on top of the almost hardened plastic to put his impression into the material. He lay there for about fifteen minutes, until his body had made a perfect mold from which they would cast him a foam cot, which would support him during the flight into space.

The NASA wonks brought in a pile of books Atom to read though. All of the required protocols for the repair of the damaged station modules, EVA activities, docking and egress protocols for the Dragon capsule, plus detained blueprints and maps of the entire International Space Station.

"Don't you have all this stuff on PDF files somewhere?" Atom asked.

"Yes, why", one of the technician asked.

Atom opened his chest panel and pointed to his Ethernet jack.

"Just plug me in and down load 'em!"

They walked him over to a computer and Atom connected himself to the network and started to download all of the necessary documents to his internal hard drive. This was the easy way to study!

He started to get a little dizzy due to the network connection, Isaac had found him.

Isaac's image popped into Atom's field of view. The computer daemon now appeared to Atom in cyberspace.

"Let me help you Atom. We'll run though some virtual simulations. Just relax and let your mind go. I'll set up the simulations from the data in these manuals. It will be just like being on the holodeck of the Star Ship Enterprise!"

The room disappeared from Atom's view as Isaac created a holodeck application. At first all he saw was a gray room with horizontal and vertical lines dividing the space into squares. Then the holodeck dissolved and Atom was lying on a cot on the floor of the Dragon spacecraft. The capsule was packed with the supplies he would need to effect repairs on the station, and some additional items that might need to be replaced there. The control panel of the capsule was just within his arm's reach, and out the window port, he could see the gantry tower right next to the rocket.

The countdown clock on the panel reached zero and Atom felt the g forces gradually rise as the rocket lifted off the pad. Isaac walked him though the simulation of the flight to orbit. Atom relaxed, if the simulation was accurate he would have no problems with the real thing. When the second stage engines cut off, Atom felt weightless. He floated off the cot against the straps that had held him down. He unbuckled himself and floated free in the cabin. This was fun!

Isaac fast forwarded the simulation. The Dragon approached the station and docked with it under computer control. Atom purged the atmosphere inside the spacecraft, so he could enter the part of the station that had its atmosphere vented to space after the collision with the debris from Big Ivan. He donned the backpack containing the supplies and tools for the repairs he had to make. Atom then opened the Dragon's hatch and crawled though the docking port into the station. He then opened the hatch on the other side and entered the Harmony module.

"Now you need to find the break in the hull and patch it," Isaac explained.

Atom looked around. His sensitive vision spotted the breach in the hull, a neat hole a few inches in diameter. He selected a steel plate from the patch kit large enough to cover the hole. Atom removed two containers of glue from the kit and mixed the contents in a third tube. He then applied the glue to the steel plate. He then removed two wads of steel putty from the repair kit and kneaded them together. He pressed the putty into the hole and the steel plate on top of that. This formed a patch that would hold against the atmospheric pressure. If need be he could use an electric arc welder to form a bead between the hull and the patch plate, but the special glue and putty were designed to seal the leak against the patch plate. He looked for any other breaks in the hull around him, but found none. He would know for sure once he started to re-pressurize the compartment.

Atom closed the hatches on both the Columbus and Kibo ends of Harmony. He now looked for the controls to re-pressurize Harmony. His internal altimeter indicated the rise in pressure. He didn't hear any leaks from escaping atmosphere. His patch was holding and there didn't seem to be any other breaks in Harmony's hull. Atom now looked for the spacesuits. He found two of them and opened the hatch between Destiny and Harmony. The astronauts were waiting...

Suddenly he was back in space center and out of cyberspace. Isaac's simulations were over. He knew what he would have to do in the real world.


	6. Chapter 6

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 6**

**June 8th**

**International Space Station**

The power drain had worsened. Isaac had uploaded some new power profile programs which Sally Furth had then activated in the system computers. By switching off non critical support systems and experiments, and making use of minimal lighting and heating requirements, they had delayed the inexorable somewhat. Yuji Tanaka was glued to the rescue mission status updates posted on line to the ISS, from the NASA private intranet VPN connection. The other two ISS crew members were trying to catch some sleep. By using less energy they would conserve their oxygen, and reduce the demands on the CO2 scrubbers.

Yuji vaguely remembered his last encounter with Atom during the Fukushima crisis. What he did recall was a fearless little robot that looked and acted like an over excited ten year old male child. Only this little kid had had the strength of a 100,000 HP engine and was RAD hardened to boot! Atom had crawled into the damaged reactor containment area, and had restored the flow of coolant just in time to prevent a worse catastrophe than they had already had on hand. Only part of the crew at the Fukushima nuclear plant, and some members of the Japan Science Ministry, had actually seen him before he was secreted back out of Japan. Yuji was looking forward to seeing Atom's face again, for more than one reason!

******Atlanta Georgia, Weather Channel Studios**

Brian Norcross studied the latest computer models posted by the NHC. He also had a new model update from FSU. The big four models were now split on Hurricane Adam's forecast track. The category 2 storm was just now approaching the outer reaches of the Bahamas. The ECMWF and GFS models still insisted that Adam would turn to the north and re-curve back out to sea before reaching the Florida coast. The GFDL and UKMET models now had Adam barrel right into the coast like a runaway freight train. The NOGAPS model, which was largely ignored these days, and the FSU Super Ensemble, also put Adam on shore, but with different timing.

"I'm concerned that the NHC is still showing the track just offshore and recurving out to sea," he confided to the anchorman for the next tropical update. "My take on these models is a direct hit on the Kennedy Space Center in 24 to 48 hours time, and then the storm just sits there for another day!"

"Should I change our official weather forecast, Mr. Norcross?", he asked.

"I'll have us put a crawler on the bottom of the screen," Brian decided.

**KSC, Complex 39**

The Vehicle Assembly Building, and the Complex 39 launch control center, were both co-located exactly 5 km away from the two launch pad sites, exactly the minimum safe distance that NASA had calculated for personal during a launch. Atom watched out the complex window as the mobile launcher slowly finished the end of its journey from the VAB to the complex 39B pad location. The rocket had been moving eastward all night. There had been one delay of an hour and a half, when the crawler had needed some repairs in mid journey.

Robert Levinson approached him carrying a small metal canister.

"This was just flown in from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California."

"What is it?" Atom asked.

"Some rocket fuel for you. Open your chest panel so I can install it, OK?"

Atom did as he was requested and Bob reached inside with the canister. He found the attachment point and screwed the small tank into Atom's waiting fuel port.

"Your leg jets can operate in ion rocket mode with an available source of propellant. This little tank won't give you much thrust, or last very long, but it will enable you to perform a few hours of EVA activity outside of the station."

"Cool!" Atom smiled as he closed his chest panel back up.

"You also have another fuel port in your waistline on your back. It's possible to attach a fuel line from a larger, external cryogenic tank, which would give you some real rocket power, but we don't think you'll need that for this mission." Bob added.

Atom felt along his waistline with his left hand looking for the mentioned port.

"I think I can feel it," he said.

One of the NASA wonks passed through the control room and yelled over to Atom.

"Hey kid! Want to help out with the final preparations loading the Dragon? I'll give you a ride to the gantry."

"On it!" Atom yelled back.

"OK, Atom. Simon and I will stay here in the control room." Bob said.

Atom ran after the man in the NASA civvies who had a jeep parked right outside the building. He hopped into the right seat, and they took off down the Saturn Causeway toward pad complex 39B. The launch pad was about a three mile ride from the VAB complex. Halfway down, the road forked and they took the left hand turn toward 39B. The launch complex had been carved out of the Everglades, and was a bit swampy. In the distance Atom could spot a couple of alligators sunning themselves, and some large great Blue Herons poking around for something to eat. High overhead an American Bald Eagle soared. With his telescopic vision Atom could spot her nest in the top of a distant power line tower.

The jeep stopped at the base of the mobile launching pad and Atom jumped out. He followed the man in the NASA civvies to the gantry tower, and they road the elevator up to the top.

"This is how you'll get up here to get in the capsule for launch, Atom. We still have several hours of preparation on the spacecraft and rocket, including fueling the launch vehicle."

At the top level the technicians had opened the hatch of the capsule and were busy loading and securing additional payload that had been brought up in the elevator. Atom looked around him while standing on the high platform next to the rocket. In the distance he could see the tall towers of the TV broadcast antennas for the local stations.

"These repair kits just arrived," One of the workman explained to Atom. "There are various patch kits for the hull of the space station, tools, and some emergency supplies. We tried to think of everything you might need up there, and of other stuff that the space station crew might need based on all the telemetry data coming down from the station. As you can see the cot that was made custom for you has already been installed, along with the restraint belts, so you will be secure during the flight to orbit."

Atom crawled into the spacecraft to help them load the additional equipment that had just arrived. The floor and sides of the spacecraft had various hooks and loops to attach the tie downs to keep the cargo securely in place during the flight, and under weightless conditions in orbit.

Back in the control center the launch director was studying the weather forecast, and checking on the current launch readiness status of the Falcon-9 rocket. Simon and Bob were looking over his shoulder.

"It's going to be close guys. It will still be a few more hours before the rocket is fully fueled for flight, and then we have a long checklist to run through before the real countdown can begin. There is a launch window every ninety minutes, which of course is a function of the orbital period of the space station. If we miss a launch window we have to reset the countdown clock for another ninety minutes. It can actually take several days for the Dragon to catch up to the the space station if it launched 180 degrees out of phase with the station's orbit."

"What about that hurricane out there?" Simon asked.

"That is the sixty four thousand dollar question. We are still hoping it will turn north at the last minute, but it now really looks like we are going to take a direct hit. Right now I think we will be on time to launch, maybe a half hour before the winds pick up and we are beyond safety minimums. If we miss that window, it might be another 24 to 48 hours before the storm passes and we can launch. That is, if Hurricane Adam continues at his current speed. Some of the models are now calling for him to slow down and sit on top of us for eight to sixteen hours."

"That would suck." Bob said.

Elon Musk had kept to the sidelines. He had been given an available office in the Complex 39 control building to camp out in, complete with computer access to the entire complex. Musk had been monitoring the mission progress, and was guardedly pleased. There had been the usual and expected problems, though the incident with the crane in the VAB disturbed him greatly. They had been damn lucky that Atom had been able to do what he did. He wondered just what else might go wrong, and decided that he'd better be available to step in and help with any technical problems requiring his first hand knowledge of the Falcon's systems.

A few hours later, Atom was being given a final checkout by Bob and Isaac. The NASA wonks had moved a daybed into one of the side offices in the back of the control building, and Atom lay down connected to the network by an Ethernet cable that protruded from his chest cavity. Isaac appeared on a computer terminal sitting on a desk next to Atom's cot, and Bob was busy running diagnostic programs on his systems.

"Everything seems to be normal with Atom, Bob." Isaac reported.

"Power levels?" Asked Bob.

"Atom's fuel levels are at 99% and 88%, indicating the levels in his auxiliary and main He2 tanks."

"Considering when he was last topped off and how much work he's been doing, I think he has more than enough energy for this mission." Bob seemed satisfied with Atom's condition.

One of the NASA wonks opened the door.

"We're ready to launch during the next available window. Is Atom ready to get on board?" he asked.

"Yes, he seems ready." Bob gave the thumb's up sign.

"Hell, I was built ready!" Atom agreed.

Atom was escorted to a waiting bus that would take him to the launch pad. He had stripped down to just his metallic black briefs and red boots. The bus took him right up to the gantry elevator, and he rode it up to the level of the spacecraft's open hatchway. He entered the capsule, lay down on his custom cot, and strapped himself in with the restraint harness. The countdown clock on the capsule's control panel showed 45 minutes till launch. Atom was tied in to the launch communications via the spacecraft's radio system, but instead of wearing a headset he was connected directly via a Bluetooth link.

Elon Musk watched the countdown proceed. He also monitored the weather on a second terminal. The outer bands of Hurricane Adam were starting to appear just off the local radar scan area. It was going to be close.

Back in the control room, Robert Levinson and Simon Green also watched the countdown progress. They sat next to the director of the mission control complex. He had multiple computer screens each showing a different system. Isaac had commandeered one of the computer terminals for his own use, and he was keeping watch of everything as well.

The computers keep running diagnostics on the Falcon's systems. Everything remained in the green area. The countdown had now reached T-10 minutes. Atom remained calm in his perch over 180 feet above the ground. The first hints of light rain began to appear in the sky and still air was replaced by a good breeze.

Simon had noticed the clouds though the window and questioned the launch directory.

"Just how bad can the weather get before you'd have to scrub the launch?"

"Officially, the Falcon-9 was rated for up to 30 knot winds, but that was at its other launch site. The 39B complex was built to handle much heavier stuff than the Falcon. I think we could get away with up to 40 knots of wind and still be safe. We don't want to launch in any lightning, but we'd chance moderate rain if we had to. This being an emergency rescue mission, and the fact that it's technically unmanned means we are willing to bend the envelope on this one."

"Technically unmanned!" Simon gasped, "That's being a bit cruel!"

"I hear you. But I'm afraid you didn't grasp the worst of it. We would self destruct the Falcon if it were to fly off course and threaten a populated area. We are taking a larger risk that such a thing could happen by extending the launch envelope. The Dragon does have an escape system to rip if free from the Falcon in such an event, but it hasn't been fully tested. That feature was intended for the man rated Dragonrider version."

Simon gasped "I don't think Atom is aware of this."

Over the radio they heard Atom's voice.

"Isaac kept your comm open. I heard that, and it doesn't change a thing. Let's light this candle!"

The countdown reached T-1 minute, and the flight computers had powered up. At T-20 seconds the tanks in the first stage reached flight pressure. T-15 seconds and the engine ignition was armed. The count reached T-3 seconds and the nine Merlin engines ignited. Atom tensed up a bit waiting for liftoff which would happen at 0 seconds, when the hold down clamps released the rocket from the pad. At minus 2.5 seconds Atom felt a strange vibration setting in. It resonated throughout the rocket like something was trying to tear itself apart.

"Some thing's_ very wrong!_" Atom thought to himself. The vibration grew stronger. At minus 1.25 seconds the rocket's on board computer agreed with Atom and all nine engines shut down at once.

"DAMN! NOW WHAT!" Elon Musk shouted running into the control room. At the main panel of computer terminals connected to the Falcon system monitors, the SpaceX wonks were trying to piece together what had just failed. Over the intercom Atom spoke.

"Within a half second of engine start I started feeling a vibration that quickly got worse. Then the engines just shut down. Is everything still OK there?"

"Hold on Atom, we're analyzing it now," the flight director replied.

Musk grabbed two of the SpaceX techs by the back of their shirts and the three of them ran out of the control room, boarded a Jeep, and tore off for the launch pad. A large tool truck followed them.

"What the hell is Musk up to?" the director voiced.

"I think he intends to fix that rocket himself!" Simon laughed.

It was no joke. Elon Musk might not have engineered the Falcon all by himself, but he had studied the blueprints and prided himself on understanding all of the engineering details. Rocket science was not "rocket science" to him. The three men reached the base of the rocket. It was still quite warm, but the pad's water cooling system had flooded the area under the rocket the instant the engines fired. The water jets had continued for a few more minutes, and by the time the engineers reached the pad it was safe to get near the now quiet beast. Musk had them prop a ladder under the Falcon so they could climb up and work on the engines.

"That vibration must mean one or more of the engines has a bad pump," An engineer told Musk. "We'll have to replace it before we can try to launch."

"I don't think so," Musk said. "I personally watched those engine pumps being assembled. They were perfect. I think they must have been installed incorrectly."

The engine data recorders had indicated that engines three and seven had shown the out of phase vibration which had shut down the rocket. Musk climbed up and reached the main wiring junction box for engine number three. He carefully opened the box and inspected the wiring.

"DAMN!" he yelled. "Just what I thought! Someone wired one of the pumps in backwards! Someone in the engine assembly line must be color blind!"

The Falcon's Merlin engine's fuel was force fed into them by precision centrifugal pumps. The pump rotors were spun by DC motors. With one of the pumps wired backwards the rotor was spinning counter clockwise instead of clockwise. This set up a reverse gyroscopic force that interacted with that of the other pumps causing the destructive vibration Atom had felt. Musk checked the wiring on engine number seven. It too was done in reverse. The engineers quickly re-wired the pumps and sealed the junction boxes.

"What about the engine up in the second stage?" one of the engineers questioned. "We really should inspect that before trying to launch."

Musk knew that to do that they'd probably have to bring the rocket back to the VAB and loose nearly a day that they didn't have. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called the factory back in California.

"Hello, Elon Musk here. Can someone check the serial numbers on the engines installed on the Falcon you guys shipped to the KSC? I want to know under which shifts each was made and which workers were on duty. I need to know if the Merlin in stage two was assembled by the same crew that assembled stage one engines three and seven."

Musk waited for the answer. The manager on the factory floor quickly called up the computer data base to find the answers. Finally a big grin appeared on Elon's face as the information was relayed to him.

"The stage two engine was NOT assembled by the same crew that did these. I'd gamble on it working just fine!"

The jeep and the truck raced back to the control room. Despite the rapid repair to the Falcon, they had still missed the launch window, and the countdown had to be reset to minus seventy minutes. The wind had been slowly increasing, and the outer bands of the storm were now over the cape. They were still within launch minimums, but barely.

Atom remained in the capsule, waiting patiently. The countdown continued toward a liftoff now an hour away. In the control room all eyes were on the weather indicators, and the countdown clock. As that clock ran down, the winds outside slowly increased. Every now and then a large gust of wind would whistle by the windows of the control room. Outside the wind speed anemometers mounted on poles within view of the block house were spinning quickly. The countdown clock reached minus 15 minutes when it was automatically stopped by the computer.

"We are now experiencing wind gusts above acceptable limits," the launch director announced. If the winds die down, we will try and resume the countdown at minus ten minutes."

The winds did die down as the current feeder band moved on. The countdown was resumed and everyone in the building mentally (or physically!) crossed their fingers. At T – 7 minutes the spacecraft was again switched to internal power. One minute later, the countdown was again automatically stopped when the weather data indicated an approaching storm cell containing lightning. The winds again increased. Finally the launch director threw up his hands.

"Go get Atom out of there. We're going to have to stand down until this storm blows past."

Atom heard that. "NO WAY! We've got to launch. They're depending on us up there!"

Simon grabbed the microphone to calm Atom down, but it was Isaac that took the initiative.

"Atom, the hurricane is now upon us. The radar is showing lots of incoming feeder bands. They are going to have to try and roll the rocket back to the VAB if possible, to survive the worst of the storm, which should here by this evening. If they leave it out where it is, it is likely that the mobile launch pad, gantry tower, and the rocket might blow over in the storm. It no longer looks like we will have a calm enough moment to launch. They are going to have to get you out of there."

Atom gave in, and climbed out of the capsule as the techs opened the hatch. He didn't wait for the gantry elevator, and jumping over the side of the platform flew directly to the control building.

"So when can we try again?" he sobbed.

"We could be under hurricane conditions for as much as 24-48 hours. Add another eight or so for the trip from the VAB to the pad and three hours of accelerated countdown. That's assuming the fuel tanks are left partly full." the director told him.

"No good. They will be in very bad shape up there by then, even if Isaac can buy them some time somehow." Atom moaned.

It seemed like the end. There was nothing more that they could do. Mother nature had won this one. Still Atom tried to think of something. He had to.

* * *

_Oy Vey! Another cliff hanger! But don't worry, too much. There will be a 'Hollywood' type solution. Can you see it? 'I' think 'I' planted enough clues..._


	7. Chapter 7

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 7**

_Author's note: Someone asked me how I can write this stuff so fast. Have you ever written a story, and there was a part of it that you had planned out way in advance, a part so fantastic that you just couldn't wait to write it? Well, _**_THIS IS IT! _**_ I've been _**_dieing_**_ to get to this part! It's going to be so much fun to write! I might be depressed after finishing it, 'cause of the let down afterwards, you know, except that I have _**_ANOTHER_**_ really great moment planned for a few chapters later! _**_WOW!_**_ Here we go__!__ …..._

**KSC, Complex 39**

The launch crew had started to prepare to drag the mobile launcher back to the safety of the VAB. They were now in the process of pumping the fuel from the Falcon's tanks. Atom's brain was working at full speed trying to figure out a way to get the launch back on track. If the mobile launch pad with the Falcon were moved back to the VAB, it would take another eight hours to return it to Complex 39B for launch. There had to be a way around that.

Atom stood in front of the computer screen showing the expected track of the storm. The hurricane was bearing down on the cape. In a few hours the most damaging winds would be on shore. The current forecast now had the storm slowing down after that point. The dirty back side of the storm would take even longer to pass by than the front side that was now approaching. But there was something in the data that caught his attention. He picked up the mouse, and clicked on the scaling controls to zoom in on the view. The outline of the storm now appeared clearer. Atom zoomed the image some more. There! The outline of the storm was now clearly superimposed on top of the tracking map, and he could see exactly how the storm would pass over the area. He set the map in motion, and watched as the storm passed directly over Complex 39B! Suddenly an insanely bizarre idea entered his brain. He remembered the lecture Sally Furth had given his science class. No, it wasn't possible, or was it? Atom cross checked the storm track against the cycle of launch windows. One of the launch windows corresponded exactly with the passage of the storm directly over the complex. Crazy like a fox! But first he needed to solve the problem of the eight hour transit time to get the mobile launcher back into position. He remembered the sight of the television antenna towers in the distance, they were guyed in place with heavy cables anchoring them to the ground.

Atom opened his chest panel, and plugged himself back into the computer network. "Isaac?" he called.

The daemon replied, "Yes Atom?"

"Isaac, I need your help. Is it possible to somehow anchor the mobile launcher and rocket down so they can safely remain on station at Complex 39B until the storm passes overhead? Maybe with cables like the TV antenna towers?"

Isaac did some quick calculations. "Yes, in principle it would work."

Isaac projected a diagram in Atom's field of view. "If you attach some heavy cables at the three points I've marked on this 3D projection of the rocket and gantry tower, and anchor them to the ground at the three points indicated on the overhead map view, I calculate a 92% chance that the mobile launcher with the rocket and gantry tower will ride out the passage of the front side of the storm."

Atom had a photographic memory. Literally. He remembered the sight of the tall spun steel utility towers along US 1, and the large spools of steel cored power cables, he had seen from Simon's plane as they turned from base leg to final approach, a few days ago. He recalled the image of one of the wire spools and zoomed in on it to show the manufacturer's name and part number for the cable. Isaac quickly looked up the specifications.

"If you run two lengths of that cable for each of the three guy wires that I've indicated, they will be strong enough. Each of those spools holds enough wire for one double length of guy cable."

The second part of Atom's plan was now in place. All he had to do now was to put things in motion.

Atom ran to the launch director. "Please! Don't roll the rocket back to the VAB. I have an idea!"

Atom quickly explained his plan to anchor the rocket and gantry down so they wouldn't blow over in the wind. "I've got to run now and take care of this quickly before it gets too windy."

He then dropped his trump card on the table. "If we do this, we will be ready to launch the instant the winds die down in under 12 hours from now."

The director shook his head. "I've seen the storm track, the hurricane won't completely pass until at least 24 to 36 hours from now."

"But, we won't have to wait that long!" Atom yelled back, already running out of the building. "In 12 hours we will be underneath the eye of the hurricane. At that moment there will be a launch window. We will go then."

The launch director looked at the same computer info that Atom had been studying just moments ago.

"Great Scott!" he gasped. "I think that might actually work!"

******Atom in flight**

The launch director gave the order for the crew that had been prepping the mobile launcher to be towed back to the VAB, to stand down. They were going to do things Atom's way.

Atom flew toward US 1, retracing in reverse the flight path that Simon's plane had taken a few days earlier, when they had arrived. As he left Complex 39, Atom saw Simon taxiing his plane into the VAB, where it would be safe from the storm.

Atom located the pile of the tall spun steel tower poles, still lying along the side of the road. They would make perfect anchors for the guy wires, sorta like giant sized tent pegs. He flew down and scooped two of them up, one under each arm. It took all his flying skills, and a great deal of jet power, to keep to a straight path with the two eighty foot long poles in the wind gusts. He arrived back at complex 39B, and carefully dropped one of the two towers on the ground while picking the second one up by its thick end. He flew to several thousand feet in altitude, and then turned downward into a dive holding the steel pole like a jousting spear, to drive it into the ground at one of the three points indicated by Isaac. The pointy end of the tower penetrated the ground at a 45 degree angle aimed toward the rocket. Atom hadn't driven it home hard enough though, as nearly half of the tower remained above the ground. No matter, he already had figured out how to fix that later. Atom then picked up the second tower, and repeated the operation, this time only a third of the tower's length remained above the ground. He flew back to US-1, scooped up a third tower, and then returned back to complex 39B to plant it.

Now he zoomed over to the I-95 overpass he had seen under construction. The long heavy steel I-beam that was intended to support the overpass, still lay along side the road. Atom picked that up, and held it under his arms. He carefully aimed the end of the beam at the end of one of the steel poles sticking up above the ground, and hammered it with the beam. Again and again he used the I-beam as a pile driver, pushing the tower deeper and deeper into the ground, until only a few feet were visible. He did this again with the remaining two tower poles, and then set the mangled I-beam down on the ground.

Atom now made three more trips back to US-1, to commandeer three spools of the heavy steel cored power line cable. He unrolled the first spool and folded the length of wire in half, forming a double strand of heavy cable. Atom then made a loop in one end of the cable and wrapped it around the rocket at the first attachment point indicated to him by Isaac. He used his arm laser to cut a hole in the top of the nearest pole and threaded the free end of the double cable through it. He repeated the operation for the other two cables at the attachment points suggested by Issac. Finally he went from cable to cable, repeatedly adjusting the pull of the guy wires, until all of them were at the same required tension. The rocket and gantry tower were now anchored to the ground against the expected winds.

**International Space Station**

Aboard the space station the astronauts had broken out the blankets to keep warm. The remaining power had been re-routed to the life support systems to keep the CO2 scrubbers running. The astronauts had been in low spirits after the news about the aborted takeoff, and the onset of the strong winds that now prevented getting the rescue mission off the ground for another 24 to 36 hours.

Yuji Tanaka had been reading the latest news from the KSC, and suddenly his face brightened.

"You guys are not going to believe what's happening down there!" he shouted.

"What, did the storm change course so they can come rescue us?" Sally asked.

"No, it seems Atom has come up with a brainstorm. He's braced the launch platform against the winds with guy cables to give them a chance to launch the instant the winds die down in a few hours," Yuji replied.

"That's not possible," Sally sighed, "The storm will take much longer than that to clear the cape."

"No, you don't get it. They are going to launch right though the eye of the hurricane!"

******June 9**

**KSC, Complex 39**

Atom had worked into the night shoring up the launch platform against the winds. The KSC had emergency generators at the ready, but the power hadn't failed on the spot lights that illuminated the launch pad while he put the final touches the anchors.

The launch crew was huddled in the control building as the winds howled outside. In the distance they could hear the heavy steel doors of the VAB banging against their hinges. While the world's tallest single story building was designed to withstand the hurricane force winds, it had been damaged by the stronger of the storms in the past. According to the forecast, they would be able to start the countdown just after dawn. Meanwhile they would have several more hours of darkness to live though.

Having the eye of a hurricane pass overhead is a rather strange experience. The winds and rain of the storm beat down on you for hours, getting stronger and stronger. Suddenly, almost all at once, the rain stops, the sky clears, and the wind dies down. The sun returns, and it appears that the worst is now over. But mother nature is playing a very cruel trick. Depending on the storm's speed and path, the calm can last anywhere from just minutes to several hours. Eventually the sky again darkens, the wind and rain pick up, and you are once again back in hell. The backside of the storm hits you even harder than the front, and it comes back in an instant as the eye wall passes by. The crew of the cape were going to experience all this later in the day, for now they were patently waiting for their chance to send Atom on his rescue mission before the astronauts ran out of time.

As the dawn's first light slowly brightened the eastern sky, the wind speed indicators began to spin down. It seemed that the rain had slowed down, or even stopped as the view out of the thick plate glass window of the control building had cleared. The launch director had tried to get a few hours of rest on a daybed off to the side of the building. As the sun's first light appeared, he downed several cups of coffee to energize himself. Looking at the weather readouts on the terminal, he decided it was time to get started.

Actually, the crew had already began to prep for launch. They had already started pumping rocket fuel and liquid oxygen back into the Falcon's tanks. Atom was now flying around the rocket, removing the tie down cables that he had installed hours earlier. They now had two hours before the launch window, just barely before the storm's track would return the eye wall and the stronger winds and rain of the backside of the hurricane. As the rocket's systems were powered back up, the SpaceX crew quickly checked each one. Despite Atom's anchor system, they were worried about damage due to the winds, rain, and flying debris that the storm had brought. Atom flew about the rocket, visually inspecting it, and relaying back the high definition pictures, in several different wavelengths of light from his camera eyes, to the control room. Visually at least, the Falcon-9 and Dragon looked perfect.

As the count down continued, each of the launch vehicle's systems came on line. So far, it seemed that the rocket had survived the storm perfectly. The weather radar showed the approaching far end of the eye wall was still several hours away, as Adam had slowed his advance inland. Maybe the gods were going to smile down on them, this time.

With less than an hour to go, Atom flew up to the top of the gantry tower where the launch crew was waiting to help him get situated inside the spacecraft. Atom again lay down on the form fitting cot, and was strapped down by the restraining harness. The spacecraft's hatch was closed, and he waited for liftoff.

Atom listened as each system check in the countdown was completed. The clock had now passed the T-10 minute mark, and there hadn't been the slightest glitch. Back in the control room Elon Musk paced back and forth, he hardly believed what they were about to do. Still the countdown clock proceeded without missing a beat. Finally it reached T-1 minute, and the final procedures were being completed. Atom tried to relax. The clock reached T-3 seconds, and the nine Merlin engines again roared to life, this time as smooth as silk! Three seconds later the hold down clamps released their grip on the Falcon, and the rocket inched skyward.

The crew in the Complex 39 control room let out a yell. Atom was on his way. Elon Musk stood outside the building holding his hands over his ears to protect them from the sound of the roaring engines, just three miles away. Along side of him, Simon Green and Robert Levinson also watched the rocket rise above the ground. They all had tears in their eyes. The rocket got smaller and smaller in the sky, until it finally disappeared from sight. Suddenly the wind picked up, the sky grew dark and the rain returned. The three men ran back into the control building and closed the door. Adam's fury had returned.

**Atom, aboard the Dragon Spacecraft**

Atom felt the G forces build as the rocket gained speed. At liftoff the combined thrust of the nine Merlin engines was barely greater than the weight of the rocket, but as the engines consumed the contents of the fuel tanks the rocket weighed less and less, increasing the thrust to weight ratio. The acceleration slowly increased as the Falcon-9 rose above the ground. The vehicle reached "max-Q", or maximum dynamic pressure at T+75 seconds. By this point it had already broken the sound barrier, and had punched through the hurricane leaving Adam far below. It was now smooth sailing to orbit. After having burned for a minute and a half, the nine Merlin engines of the first stage shut down. There was a brief moment of weightless while the second stage was released from the first, and then Atom again felt the G forces build up as the second stage's single Merlin engine came to life.

The second stage burned for several minutes, before it too shut down. The vehicle had reached orbit. About ten minutes later, the second stage fired again to precisely adjust the orbit to one that would catch up with the International Space Station within one orbital period. Then the Dragon Spacecraft separated from the second stage and was on its own.

Atom loosened the restraints holding him down to the cot. He floated free in the zero gravity. Through a forward looking view port, Atom could see the ISS in the far distance. His spacecraft was slowly catching up with it. If he zoomed his vision to almost maximum magnification, he could make out the Dragon docking ports on the Harmony module. One of them was occupied by a Dragon Spacecraft from the last re-supply mission. The astronauts hadn't yet finished filling it with all of the cargo being returned to earth.

"Atom, this is mission control. Your Dragon spacecraft is now locked on to the flight path to dock with the station. We have you on radar tracking and under control. Everything looks perfect from here."

"Roger, mission control." Atom replied.

Over the next fifteen minutes the Dragon closed in on the station. It slowly positioned itself right behind the docking port. After double checking the Dragon's systems, the controllers on the ground began the docking procedures. Just as the Dragon's docking port touched the station's, a red light came on in the capsule. Ground control saw the same indication on their panels.

"Atom, we have negative lock on the docking port. We are going to back the spacecraft up and will roll it two degrees starboard, and try again."

Once again they repeated the maneuver, and once again the docking latches failed to engage. The tried several times using different approach speeds, but it would not engage. Finally they positioned the spacecraft so Atom could get a good look out the view port at the station's docking port.

"Atom, can you give us look-see at the docking port?"

Atom focused his high definition camera eyes at the space station, and relayed the picture back to earth.

"Atom, we seem to have a problem with the docking port. It looks like there is a chunk of space debris jammed into the docking clamp latches. We are thinking that maybe you will need to go EVA and clear it."

The necessary instructions were relayed up to Atom directly via the spacecraft's radio and the Bluetooth network link between it and Atom's internal computer interfaces.

"I understand what I have to do." Atom replied.

Atom activated the controls to pump down the atmospheric pressure inside the spacecraft so he could open the docking hatch from the inside to gain egress from the ship. He attached a tether line around his waist to keep him from drifting from the spacecraft. Atom then opened the Dragon's forward hatch, and pushed himself out into space. A quick burst of ion rocket power from his legs propelled him toward the Harmony module's docking port. Sure enough, there was a jagged chunk of metal jammed in one of the fingers of one of the docking clamps. Atom carefully worked it free, and then used the powerful grip of his fingers to bend the clamp's fingers back into shape. He relayed the image of what he was doing back to the ground, and they reported back that it now looked perfect.

Atom had a thought. He unattached himself from the tether, and flew away from his current position using his ion rockets. He orbited around the Harmony module photographing every inch of its surface. He then repeated the inspection for the Columbus and Kibo modules.

"What are you doing, Atom?" ground control asked.

"I'm looking for where the hull breaches are from the outside. I've already identified where Harmony was holed. It looks like I'll need two patches. I didn't see any breaches on Kibo or Columbus, but I'll relay the images back to earth for you to study."

Atom grabbed the floating tether, pulled himself back to the ship, and crawled back through the Dragon's forward hatch. He closed the hatch and locked it, to prepare for the docking maneuver. Once again ground control commanded the spacecraft to approach the space station to dock. This time as the two bodies touched, there was the distinct sound of the clamps engaging. Atom had made it to the station. Now he had work to do.

* * *

_Author's notes:_

_In this chapter and the previous ones I had the SpaceX Falcon-9 launch facilities situated at Complex 39, which is the former Shuttle and Apollo launch site. In reality, SpaceX uses NASA launch Complex 40 for their launches, however NASA _**_is_**_ looking to rent out Complex 39, and with their upcoming Falcon Heavy rocket (which is very nearly the size and weight of the Saturn V), it is not unlikely that SpaceX could one day occupy Complex 39._

_Also, I had stated that the Merlin engines used electric fuel pumps, however they actually use turbine driven units. I needed to invent a quick and dirty fault that could be repaired in moments, so I took the liberty of artistic license to alter the facts in a way that wouldn't badly distort reality. Sorry about that Mr. Musk._

_And, thank you SpaceX for posting the user's manual for the Falcon-9 rocket on line as a free download!_

_BTW, I'll also now give credit to the 1969 movie "Marooned", for part of my plot idea involving a rocket launch through the eye of a hurricane. I didn't want to mention it before now, 'cause that would have been a major spoiler. (But hey, I dropped enough hints in the early chapters!)_

_Also thanks to Dan Rush for his story the "fiery and the furious", which mentioned the use of certain hardware driven into the ground by the 'bots, which inspired a similar 'MacGyverism' for Atom in this story._


	8. Chapter 8

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 8**

**International Space Station, ********Harmony**** Module**

Atom donned the backpack containing the tools and patch material. He cracked the Dragon's forward hatch, and crawled through the docking tunnel toward the matching hatch on the Harmony module. Grabbing the manual unlocking levers, he slowly released the latches, and pushed the hatch open. Atom moved forward into Harmony. The inside was dark, the only lighting came from a few indicator lamps and readouts on several computer displays.

"Houston, it looks like the power may be out in Destiny. It's dark in here. No problems for me though, my eyes are already dark adapted." Atom reported.

"_Roger Atom, we read you in Destiny. When the module was breached and wasn't re-pressurized, the control systems were programmed to power down everything except for the systems interfaces. You should be able to re-power the module back on, once you get the hull patched and start re-pressurization._"

Atom wanted to let the astronauts know he had arrived. They probably would have felt the docking as the Dragon gently nudged into the station, and should have gotten an indication on the systems consoles when he had opened the hatch to Destiny. Atom floated over to an intercom panel. Since sound can't travel though a vacuum, the intercom speaker and panel wouldn't work as usual, so Atom touched his head against the panel to directly conduct the sound waves as he spoke and listened. He had two types of internal speech transducers to enable him to talk. The one he used most, was modeled after the human larynx, using vocal chords and bellows to produce sound. He also had a piezoelectric transducer that didn't require the use of air, he now spoke with that one.

Atom pressed the intercom button to the Destiny module.

"Destiny, this is Atom in Harmony. Do you guys hear me?"

**International Space Station, Destiny Module**

The first indication that help might have arrived, were a series of gentle vibrations that resonated though out the station as the Dragon attempted to dock with the Harmony. There were at least five of these, followed by a period of silence.

"That feels like the Dragon hitting on the docking port," Chris said. "But it also feels like the clamps never engaged. Maybe they were damaged in the blast?"

Twenty minutes later there was another gentle shudder, this time with a different 'ring' to it.

"That did it!" Chris exclaimed. "That was a dock!"

Yuji Tanaka looked up from the system console.

"Dragon docking hatch opening," he reported. A few minutes later, "Inner hatch to Harmony opened, ladies and gentlemen we have a visitor!"

The intercom crackled with a muffled voice, _"Destiny, this is Atom in Harmony. Do you guys hear me?"_

Yuji punched the talk button, "Yes I do, but I'm not sure how, it's still a vacuum in there."

"_Ha ha! I've got my head pressed against the intercom. I can hear you by direct vibration from the speaker. Guess its working in reverse too!"_

"Good thinking, Atom! How does it look out there?"

"_I've got to place two patches, and then try to re-pressurize and power up the module. You can probably watch my progress on your monitors."_

"OK, Atom, we're not going anywhere. Hope to see you in here real soon!"

******Harmony**

Since Atom had seen the location of the two breaches in the hull from the outside, he was able to quickly locate them on the inside. It looked like a single projectile had been responsible for both, one was clearly an 'entry wound' and the other an 'exit wound'. He carefully mixed the glue and patching putty, applied them to a patch plate, and then pressed it in place over the first hole. The adhesives required only a few minutes to set up, and would withstand full atmospheric pressure within ten minutes. Atom held the first plate in place, applying several hundred pounds of pressure per square inch. After five minutes had elapsed, he removed his hand and proceeded to prepare the second patch. He held pressure on this one for the full ten minutes, at this point it was safe to re-pressurize the module.

When Harmony had been breached, and the astronauts had sealed it off from Destiny; Harmony, Columbus, and Kibo had slowly dumped their atmosphere to space. The system controls would not attempt to re-pressurize these modules by itself, for unless the hull breaches had been patched all of the station's air reserves would have been lost. If one of the modules were to be re-pressurized with the hatches between modules open, all three would be. The system would attempt to re-pressurize Columbus and Kibo when Harmony was, so long as there was a rise in atmospheric pressure the system would fight to bring it slowly back to normal.

Atom found the system panel that controlled the life support system. He activated the manual override and started the re-pressurization procedure. Slowly, the reserve air tanks started to replace the vacuum in the affected modules with breathable air. Atom's internal pressure sensors recorded the rise in pressure. After about ten minutes, the pressure at reached 14.7 PSI, normal pressure for a Nitrogen/Oxygen mix, just like on the planet below them.

Atom again activated the intercom, this time he didn't need to bang his head against the wall to use it!

"Destiny, this is Harmony. Pressure now normal, I'm going to crack the hatch."

Atom released the locks holding Destiny's outer hatch closed from the outside. For the first time in a few days, the two modules were now connected. The air in both units was cold as power had been off in Harmony, Columbus, and Kibo for days; and Destiny had been in a power savings mode as well.

As Atom transversed into Destiny, Yuji was overcome with emotion and grabbed him in a bear hug. He quickly released him and stood back.

"You look a little different from the last time I saw you, Atom-san."

"Yeah, well glad to see you too!" Atom laughed. "I'm actually a few inches taller than when we last met. That's a long story, I'll tell you later."

Atom introduced himself to Chris and Sally, and they shook hands. Now that the formalities were over, they had some work to do.

Sally Furth left Destiny and entered Harmony. She was attempting to restore power to Harmony, which had been shut down after the hull breach. The systems powered up, but again the drain on the batteries was higher than the charge from the solar panels. At least now she could do a system wide check. It seemed that the entire US side of the station was affected, the Russian side was probably OK, but they still had to patch the hull breach in Unity.

"OK, I see two choices." Chris said. "We can close down Destiny and pump down the atmosphere so we can enter Unity in suits and repair the damage, or someone can go EVA out of Columbus and reenter the station though Unity's airlock to do it."

"That would be me!" Atom said. "I won't have to suit up and can move faster."

******Unity**

Atom still had the on backpack with the tools. He had a few patch plates left and enough adhesives. Yuji led him to the airlock in Columbus. Atom entered the chamber, and waited for the pressure to be pumped out so he could open the outer hatch. Once again, he found himself in space. He used his leg ion rockets to propel himself toward the Unity module. He flew around it to locate the damaged area, this time it looked like a single hole. Atom then opened the outer hatch to Unity's airlock, and entered the chamber. As the inside of this part of the station was still under vacuum, the inner door of the chamber opened as soon as the outer hatch was closed, and Atom stepped inside the module.

The breach in this module was smaller. The bit of shrapnel that had punctured the hull must have exploded on impact, and had broken into many small pieces that didn't have enough energy left to cause further damage. Atom again prepared a patch and applied it. He found the nearest system console and manually enabled the re-pressurization procedure. This time it took much longer since the interconnected systems had to attempt to re-pressurize the entire Russian half of the station, as well as the Unity and Tranquility modules. After twenty minutes Atom sensed a normal 14.7 PSI atmosphere. He then opened the hatch between Unity and Destiny. The station was now whole again.

******ISS**

Atom returned to Destiny where the three astronauts were waiting.

"Good job, Atom," Chris exclaimed, slapping Atom on the back. "I think we've just located the problem with the power system. There appears to be a damaged coupling in the solar array over here." Chris pointed to a diagram of the station showing Atom where the solar array was damaged. Yuji was stepping into an EVA equipped spacesuit as he spoke.

"I'm going to go out and examine the suspected area, and attempt to make repairs. It will probably be a two man job," Yuji said.

"I'm coming with you then," Atom replied.

"Thanks, I hoped you would. We'll use the airlock on Unity," Yuji told him.

Yuji opened Atom's backpack and added some tools that would be required for the repair. He had his own set of tools already attached to his spacesuit.

The two of them entered the airlock, and activated the pump to evacuate the chamber to a vacuum. Atom tested his radio link with Yuji.

"Hello test. You hear me Yuji?"

"Loud and clear Atom."

"Good on my end too!"

The outer hatch opened and the astronaut and Atom stepped into space.

"There's where we need to go," Yuji pointed toward a spot on the suspect solar array.

Atom grabbed the astronaut under his armpits from behind, and flew toward the solar array powered by his ion rockets.

"Hey, wait a minute, this suit has thrusters!" Yuji protested.

"OK then, on the way back I'll race you!" Atom laughed.

Yuji used his suit's thrusters to steer them to the junction box where the suspected damage was. Sure enough, a section of the power cable had been sliced by a flying sliver from Big Ivan.

"We'll have to splice in a new section of power cable," Yuji told Atom. "I put some cable in your backpack."

Yuji removed a spool of the power cable from Atom's backpack, and cut off a piece of the right length. He fumbled a bit with the wire strippers, trying to remove the insulation so he could splice it in.

"Let me handle that," Atom said, "I don't have those thick gloves on!" Atom wiggled his fingers in front of Yuji's faceplate and laughed.

"Hey, I've been trained to work in these astronaut gloves!" Yuji sighed as Atom grabbed the wire strippers and the cable, making quick work of the task.

Yuji gave in, and directed Atom in removing the damaged piece of cable and splicing in the replacement. Atom's nimble fingers and sense of touch completed the job in almost no time.

"You seem to be right at home in space, Atom. I bet you don't even feel a bit of motion distress from the zero G. I nearly puked in my suit the first time I went EVA, it can take a bit of getting used to," Yuji confessed.

"I guess I am," Atom laughed. "In fact this is fun! I've never felt so free in all my life!" Atom demonstrated by leaping away from the space station, and performing a loop and barrel roll before returning to his post.

Yuji sighed to himself, "_Youth is wasted on the young!_"

They finished the repair, and Yuji closed up the junction box.

"Power is now back to normal!" Chris reported over the radio. "Good job guys!"

"OK Yuji, NOW I'll race you back to the airlock!" Atom challenged Yuji.

The race wasn't even close. Atom waited at the airlock for about a minute for Yuji to show up. The hatch closed behind them, and they re-entered the space station.

Yuji extracted himself from the spacesuit. Sally reported to Houston that they now had the power fully back on line, and that the atmosphere had been restored though out the station.

"I guess we should give our guest a tour of the place," Chris Hadfield said , "He's sure earned it!"

"Would you like to see the Kibo laboratory, Atom," Yuji asked.

"Sure!" Atom replied.

Yuji and Atom entered the Kibo module.

"This module was designed and built in Japan," Yuji began. "It is the largest of the modules that make up the International Space Station. We can do lot's of different kinds of research here, from biology, to space manufacturing research. We are even growing plants and fish here, see!"

Atom saw fish swimming in a zero G tank.

"Neat!" he laughed. "Fish in space!"

The laboratory had many different kinds of equipment. Along one 'wall' were several large cylinders wrapped in insulation.

"What's this?" Atom asked.

"That's part of our materials production research. Those tanks hold cryogenic gases. Two of them are filled with liquid Helium. That stuff has some very special properties," Yuji explained.

Yuji finished his tour of Kibo, and Sally Furth lead Atom to the Cupola.

"This is my favorite part of the station, Atom."

"I remember this part," Atom told her. "My science class saw you on TV last week."

"You were in that class?" she asked.

"Yes, I go to school with other kids who don't know what I am," Atom said. He buried his head between his shoulders, pressed his arms together, and ground one leg against the floor. "There is a girl in my class who has a crush on me, and she also idolizes you," Atom added coyly.

"Do you like her Atom?" Sally questioned.

"Yes, well I did save her life once."

"Really? Well now you're stuck with her Atom. You're her knight in shining armor. Actually, you're my hero too. We all owe you our thanks." Sally kissed Atom on the check, and he turned away blushing.

"We should inspect the Russian side of the station, and make sure that the Soyuz spacecraft is OK," Chris said.

The four of them slowly moved over to the Russian end of the International Space Station. The astronauts explained the purpose of each of the areas that they passed thought to Atom, as they continued his guided tour of the facilities. They finally reached the far end of the station at the Zvezda module, where the two Russian docking ports were. The remaining Soyuz spacecraft was sitting waiting for them at the Pirs airlock.

"Well, everything looks undamaged on this side, including our return taxi," Sally said. "I guess we can relax now and figure out what we need do next."

******June 10**

******Complex 39 Control Center**

It had been a hell of a day. Everyone in NASA's complex 39 facility had celebrated the launch of the Falcon rescue mission, and Atom's repair of the space station. It was now past midnight and the final feeder bands from the hurricane were still moving through, though less frequently and with lower wind gusts. The launch director had been sleeping soundly on a daybed in the back of the control room, and cots had been brought in from a closet for those that wanted them. Simon and Robert took advantage of this, but Elon Musk didn't seem to need any rest. He moved from station to station, looking over the shoulders of those engineers still on duty.

**Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center, Houston**

Over in Houston, NASA was now tracking some space debris drifting into the space station's path. Isaac had tapped into their computer systems to keep a monitor on the situation. There were actually two clouds of debris from the collision between Korean missile test, the Chinese spy satellite, and Big Ivan; both had drifted close to the orbit of the ISS. To avoid a possible future collision the orbit of the ISS would have to be briefly lowered below the first cloud, and then raised above the second. The Houston controllers contacted the astronauts over the SHF radio link.

"ISS crew, this is Houston. We have an important alert for you. You will need to re-adjust your orbit to avoid some debris_._"

In the ISS, Sally Furth answered the radio.

"_Houston, this is astronaut Furth. What's up now?_"

"We have a two step orbit adjustment for you. Radar is tracking two debris fields from the collision with the Korean and Chinese satellites several days ago. You will need to make a minor adjustment to lower your orbit by a few miles, and then one half orbit later adjust your orbit upward by twenty miles. The exact procedure is being uploaded now."

******ISS**

After reading the instructions relayed up from Houston, Chris remarked, "Sounds a bit like threading a needle to me."

Sally Furth answered, "I'll program the system for the required burn times."

The ISS has booster engines on the Zvezda service module to raise its orbit when required. After the shuttle program had been canceled, additional engines were installed to allow reorientation of the station's orbit and orientation in any direction. Now its orbit could be adjusted precisely to steer clear of space debris. These systems were integrated into the systems of the Zvezda module. The three astronauts and Atom relocated to the Zvezda module to handle the situation.

Following the instructions from Houston, Chris and Sally prepared to fire the orbit adjustment engines to lower the station's position in the sky just enough to duck under some debris, then Zvezda's booster engines would be used to raise their orbit again to be permanently above the threat. It would be a short burn of barely a minute, as little movement was required.

"Initiating burn now!" Sally announced and the clock started running. The engines were to shut down after 50 seconds of burn. "39, 40, 41 …. 48, 49, 50, 51, 52.. negative shutdown!"

"What's happening?" Chris asked running over to the console.

"Zvezda's propulsion systems must have been damaged by debris from the explosion of Big Ivan," Sally said. "The engines won't shut down, our orbit is dropping lower than we wanted. I don't think we have any control of the system from here."

"Maybe I can go outside and shut it down," Atom offered.

"I'd have to study the system schematics to even know if that is possible, and besides, it's probably too dangerous to try and work on a running rocket engine," Chris told him. "And I don't just mean dangerous to you, but to the station, it could cause an explosion. Anyway, the engines will shut down before you could do anything when the fuel tanks run dry."

After ten minutes of constant thrust, Zvezda's engines did shut down, as the rocket fuel was exhausted.

NASA had been tracking the whole operation and had been in touch with Sally who was at the computer panel all the while. Her face was as white as a ghost.

"What's our condition now?" Chris asked.

"Bad. Not only did we over burn, but we over thrusted. That was a full throttle burn on all engines, not a partial power adjustment. The systems really failed," Sally gasped.

"How low did we fall?", Chris asked.

"You don't want to know," Sally choked out. "That burn was enough to decay our orbit to the point that it is no longer stable. We have maybe one and a half to two orbits before it decays completely."

"What do you mean?" Atom asked.

"She means," Chris said, "the station is going to re-enter the atmosphere. The thing is, we are too big to burn up completely. A good chunk of the station is going survive re-entry and to do some damage on the ground. We just don't know where."

"Can't we raise our orbit?" Atom asked.

"If we had a progress supply ship docked, then we could use its engines to raise our orbit. The Soyuz that is docked only has retro rockets to bring it back to earth. The Dragon supply ships are the same way. There is no fuel left in Zvezda to use the booster engines, assuming that they were not damaged by the explosion, and that they would work. We may just have to abandon ship in the Soyuz craft before the station really starts to fall, to save our own skins."

* * *

_A.N._

_We end this chapter with yet another cliff hanger. I'm going to be doing some traveling for a few days starting over the weekend, so there probably won't be another update for about a week and a half. It WILL be worth the wait!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 9**

******Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center********, Houston**

Charles F. Bolden Jr., had returned to his Houston office after meeting with Elon Musk and Simon Green at launch complex 39. He had made it back before Hurricane Adam had made landfall at the cape, and was in Houston during the unprecedented launch through the eye of the storm. Now he was in the middle of the current emergency.

The staff in the Houston facility that were associated with the ISS, were in a panic state. Nothing in the manuals seemed to cover the present scenario. About the only thing they could do was estimate just how long the astronauts could safely wait before leaving the station via the remaining Soyuz craft, and to calculate where the remains of the station would crash on earth.

Isaac had been plugged in, monitoring the events as they unfolded. He had already calculated the likely resting site for the station's remains, if events continued to unfold along their current path. He was keeping this information to himself for the moment, due to it's sensitive nature.

"_ISS, this is Houston. We figure you have at most three hours before you must abandon the station and return to earth. In the mean time, we are looking at all available options._"

******Complex 39, KSC**

Robert Levinson was also busy on the computer. Isaac had finally reported in to him after having spent most of his processor cycles at Houston.

"Bob, I don't see any way out of this. There are no resources available on the station to raise the orbit, or at least stabilize it at a low level."

"Have you calculated the possible area where the remains of the station would come down?" Bob asked.

"Yes, I have it nailed down to a fairly small area, and can pinpoint an exact spot with a certainty of about 75%. You don't really want to know, do you?"

"Something tells me this is really bad," Bob replied.

"That would be an understatement. I calculate that most of the stations remains will fall in the Washington DC area."

"Holly crap!" Bob gasped. "Have you have pin pointed it further."

"Do you want the address?" Isaac asked.

"Something tells me I shouldn't ask," Bob said.

"Would you believe 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?"

"You can't be serious!", Bob gasped.

"Like I said, there is a 75% chance that that calculation is correct. That is the center of the probable target zone."

"Isaac, you realize that if the military finds that out, they will probably want to take the space station out with a missile before it starts to re-enter. We've got to come up with a second plan."

******International Space Station**

Atom felt helpless. In the earth's atmosphere; the Ion Plasma ramjet engines in his legs, powered by the 75 mega watt He3 fusion electric power plant in his chest, could generate 100,000 HP. He could lift a stack of locomotives high in the air, and fly them across the country. However in space, the same engines running in rocket mode were limited by the meager amount of Xenon gas that was contained in a small canister in his chest. He could fly about the space station for hours with that fuel, but was limited in the specific impulse that he could generate. He wouldn't be able to lift the space station, it would be like a fly trying to push an elephant.

Yet, there was that statement that Robert had made, that if he had an external cryogenic tank of propellant attached to a port on his waistline, he could 'generate some real rocket power'. Robert was probably just repeating what Dr. Albert Tenamann had told him. Atom knew he'd have to contact his father, now!

Sally Furth was paging though computer images of the stations blue prints, trying to come up with an idea. Atom walked over and made his request.

"Sally, I need to talk with someone on earth right away. I think Isaac could help me, if I could contact him on the Internet."

"That's no problem, Atom. The station has a high speed down link that we can use for access to the Internet."

"Do you have an Ethernet connection and a cat-5 jumper cable?" Atom asked.

"Why, did you bring a laptop computer with you?" Sally handed Atom a network jumper cable and pointed him to an available network jack.

"Not exactly. This may weird you out a bit," Atom said accepting the cable.

He pressed his right index finger against his chest and a blue spot glowed under his finger. Slowly a line appeared which encircled a rectangular area on his chest to outline his access panel. Atom opened the panel and connected one end of an Ethernet cable to his internal network connection. He plugged the other end into the station's network socket.

"I'm probably going to zone out for awhile while my consciousness transfers to cyberspace. I am a computer, sorta kinda."

Atom directed request packets at Isaac's IP address with the required secure keys. Isaac had an encrypted access login for external traffic, using 1024 bit encryption. The connection was made, and Atom's consciousness faded from the space station and reappeared in cyberspace where he could talk to Isaac face to face.

"Isaac, I need to contact my dad," he told the daemon.

"I can reach him. He hopefully has his cell phone in range of the network, or I can try his land line or sat phone."

Albert Tenamann's image appeared before Atom. He was on a Skype connection though his BlackBerry smart phone. If it wasn't for Isaac, this three way call would have set the record for long distance roaming charges.

"Hello Dad. It's been a while since we last spoke." Atom said.

"Hello Atom. I know what's been going on, Isaac has been keeping me informed ever since the initial problem up on the space station. I had guessed that you would get involved."

"Well, we now have a real problem and I need your help!" Atom said. "I know you told Bob about how I could make use of my jets in space as ion rockets. He also mentioned something about 'real rocket power'. Is that possible?"

Albert smiled at Atom. "I think I can help, Atom. As Bob probably told you, you do have a connection for a liquid propellant connection on your back, along your waist. It's for a cryogenic liquid gas propellant. Normally such ion rockets use Xenon gas because of its atomic mass. However any of the noble gases in cryogenic form would work."

"What's a noble gas?" Atom questioned.

"A noble gas is an element that has the outer electron ring in its atomic structure completely filled. These elements do not react with any other elements, except under extreme conditions. In general any of the elements listed on the extreme right hand side of the periodic table are members of this group. Xenon is the heaviest of the non-radioactive noble gases. Radon is heavier but is not stable. Helium is the lightest of the group."

Helium? Wait, Yuji had showed him two large tanks of the stuff on board Kibo. Would that work?

"Dad, would liquid helium work as a propellant?"

"Yes, it would be compatible with your engines in their ion rocket mode. It wouldn't provide quite as much thrust as Xenon would, but it would work."

At this point Isaac butt into the conversation.

"I see where you're going with this Atom, and it's a great idea! I've just done the necessary calculations. I've looked up the inventory of equipment on the ISS. The quantity of liquid helium in the two tanks on Kibo, if used as propellant in your ion rocket engines, given the electrical power available; should provide enough total specific impulse to raise the station into a stable orbit. In fact you should be able to carry the station high enough to be clear of the debris that NASA was worrying about. But, we can't wait very long. If you don't start in less than thirty minutes, the orbit will have decayed too much."

"Thanks Dad! And you too Isaac!" Atom cried with virtual tears in his eyes.

"Good to hear from you Atom, Glad I could help!" Albert said as the connection closed.

Atom's conciseness returned to the interior of the space station. Sally could tell from the look on his face, that he had the answer to their problems.

"I can do it!" Atom cried, pounding a fist into his palm. "I can lift this station back into orbit! Get Yuji here!"

Yuji, Atom, and Chris met in Kibo. Atom quickly explained what had to be done.

"I need both of those cryogenic helium tanks connected together with a valve, and a hose along with a connector to fit the connection on my back. I have the necessary fittings in that backpack I brought along. I'll need Yuji to go EVA with me to handle the helium tanks and work the flow valve. I'll have Isaac direct me as to how to aim my rockets, and how much thrust to use. I'm going to hold onto the superstructure of the station, and push it back into orbit."

******Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center********, Houston**

In his office at the Houston NASA facility, Charles F. Bolden was having a heated debate with a military official that had invaded his office. They were considering their options, having learned of the stations failing orbit and its projected path.

"This is a decision that we can't avoid for much longer," the man wearing the uniform told him.

"You're crazy, can you imagine what the press would have to say if they knew we blew up the space station?" Bolden yelled back.

"Yeah, to avoid having it fall on the White House!"

At that moment the door burst open and a third person ran into the office.

"I'm glad I caught you two. Stand down the military. It looks like we have a solution."

"The robot kid?" Bolden asked.

"Yes. He's preparing to lift the space station into a stable orbit right now."

******Kibo Airlock**

Yuji had carefully duck taped the two helium tanks together (even in space they use duck tape!). He rigged up the required insulated hoses between the two tanks, and a flow control valve with a long hose ending with a fitting that would screw into Atom's waist line connection. Atom and Yuji entered the airlock and exited Kibo into space. Sally and Chris pushed the two tanks into the airlock and closed the inner door. They evacuated the chamber, after which Atom opened the outer door, then the two space walkers pulled the tanks out of the airlock.

"We need to get them to the under side of the station," Atom told Yuji.

Together they pushed the two helium tanks toward the under side of the superstructure; Atom using his ion rockets and Yuji, the thrusters on his space suit. Once in position Atom tied the tanks to the superstructure with a tether cord, and Yuji then screwed the hose connector onto the intake connection on Atom's back. Finally, Yuji attached his suit to the superstructure with a tether, he didn't want to be left behind when Atom started pushing the station higher.

With barely a few minutes to spare, Atom was in position. Isaac was now in contact with Atom via a radio link from the station. Atom heard Isaac's voice in his head.

"I'll bring up your heads up display, Atom. On it you can see the outline of the earth below, and the space station above. Below the station you can see a stick figure representation of yourself. From these symbols you can see how to orient yourself to direct your rocket thrust. You'll need to use full power, but build up to it gradually. Your rocket engines will need a little time to come up to the power level required."

Atom aligned himself with the station, and told Yuji to open the propellant valve to 25%. He grabbed hold of the station superstructure and fired his leg rockets. He wasn't quite prepared for the kick they gave him.

On board the International Space Station, Sally Furth and Chris Hadfield felt the result of Atom's rockets. For the first time since they had been on the station, they felt something they never expected to feel. Gravity. Atom was pushing the station back into orbit. His rockets were producing an acceleration of about one quarter G. It was more gravity than on the surface of the moon. They hadn't felt anything yet.

As he felt his ion rocket engines stabilize, Atom increased the power. The He3 reactor inside him spooled up, and his ion rockets accelerated the molecules of helium out the nozzles at the bottom of his legs. Yuji opened the helium valve to one half. As Atom increased the power, he felt the same kind of 'burn' that a runner does in his leg muscles. It was like he was straining to push the station into orbit using flesh and blood, rather than electrical energy. His computer brain translated the use of power into a response that the human programming his brain was based on would comprehend.

On board the station, the acceleration was now at one G, earth normal gravity. Atom grimaced as he pushed harder. Yuji opened the valve all the way. Atom increased his push and was now using all of the 100,000 horse power that his He3 reactor could produce. The G forces rose to three and a half times normal earth gravity. To those on the space station, it was like riding the rocket that had brought them into space. The effort showed on Atom's face, like that of an Olympic weight lifter straining to press and jerk a 500 lb bar-bell over his head.

Back on the ground in the Houston control center, they couldn't believe what they saw on the radar. The International Space Station's orbit had stopped it's decay and was slowly stabilizing. As the station rose to a higher orbit, it weaved around the two clouds of debris as Isaac guided Atom's path to orbit.

Atom continued his herculean effort to push the space station into a higher orbit, until both helium tanks ran dry. He shut down his rockets and sighed with relief. "How did I do?" Atom asked.

Isaac had been monitoring the radar tracking all the way.

"Better than I had hoped for. You pushed the station up to the orbit that NASA had planned on, before the shit hit the fan. Good job!"

Atom felt sore all over.

"I could sure use a hot shower, and an oil bath!" he said.

Yuji disconnected his tether rope. "That was on heck of a ride!" he said.

******International Space Station, Harmony **

With the space station now safely in a stable orbit again, and out of danger from any clouds of debris, Atom was able to help with the final little bit of unfinished business.

"There is still some unloaded cargo in the Dragon spacecraft that we need to bring on board. NASA had started to prepare the next resupply mission just before all this happened," Atom said.

Chris looked at Atom and asked: "Do you feel up to unloading the cargo now, or would you like to rest for a while?"

"I'm good," Atom said. "I'd like to finish my mission here and go home."

"OK then, let's do it," Chris responded.

Atom cracked the hatches to re-enter the Dragon. One by one, he passed the packaged cargo through the docking tunnel into the Harmony module, where Chris and Sally were waiting to stow the equipment and supplies away. The job took them a few hours to complete.

"OK then, I think we all can take a well deserved rest," Chris suggested.

Atom camped out in Kibo, while the rest of the crew returned to Destiny.

******June 11**

**Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan**

The last two static firing tests of the Soyuz rocket's main engines had been completed without a hitch. Launch director Korotayev reported to the RKA director that he would now declare the problem to have been fixed, and would recommend that manned operation of the Soyuz transport to the ISS be put back on line.

Cosmonaut Peter_ G_orbunov had recovered from his surgery, and was itching to get back into space. The RKA medical team decided that he could return to active cosmonaut duty at any time after his stitches were removed._ C_osmonaut Boris Dostovalovwas to command the next Soyuz manned launch back to the ISS, now scheduled for later in the week. As Gorbunov would not be completely healed by then, the RKA would select a replacement Cosmonaut to take his place. Also, the missing mission specialist from the European space agency was ready to join the crew of the ISS to work in the Columbus laboratory. The station would be back to its full complement of six crewmen within a few days.

******International Space Station, Harmony **

Houston control and SpaceX were coordinating the return to earth, and recovery, of the Dragon spacecraft that had brought Atom to the International Space Station. It would splashdown in the Pacific after returning from orbit. While the Dragon resupply missions were normally recovered by commercial shipping under contract by SpaceX, the Whitehouse had ordered that the recovery of this mission would be performed by the nearest available Navy ship, which at the moment was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The President wanted Atom to receive a hero's welcome on return to earth.

Atom said his goodbyes to the crew of the ISS. Chris Hadfield shook Atom's hand and gave him a salute. Sally Furth gave him a hug and a peck on the check. Yuji Tanaka started with a bow and a handshake, but once again resorted to a huge hug. Atom smiled back and with a tear in his eye crawled through the docking tunnel to enter the Dragon, and closed the hatch behind him. He lay down on the cot and strapped himself in. NASA control from the Houston facility took control of the spacecraft. The docking hatches released and the spacecraft drifted free from the space station. The retro rockets fired and the Dragon started its return to earth.

* * *

_Authors Note:_

_This isn't the end of the story. Atom now returns to earth for a hero's welcome, and a few surprises._


	10. Chapter 10

**Dragon Rider**

_This is another Astro Boy pastiche in an original setting with mostly original characters. _

_Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) is the creation of Osmau Tezuka. _

**Chapter 10**

******The Pentagon, Washington D.C.**

General Hayes wasn't exactly pleased with the news, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. POTUS had decided that at least part of the information regarding Atom was going to have to be declassified following the press announcement from NASA. At least information regarding the robot's weapons systems would remain classified (something that Atom himself would probably agree with as well). NASA's official news announcement concerning the International Space Station had been coordinated with the oval office's approval, however the general had been left completely out of the loop. POTUS's decision on Atom's future status was particularly disturbing. At least they still had #27 hidden in the Cheyenne Mountain complex.

******NBC News**

"_Brian Williams reporting for NBC news. NASA has just released the latest information on the situation on board the International Space Station that has been unfolding over the past few days. We've previously reported about the robotic rescue and repair mission that was launched aboard the SpaceX Dragon spaceship in a 'Hollywood' like manor though the eye of Hurricane Adam. We have now learned the details of the mission, and this story is even more incredible than the launch was._

_This is a case of science fiction becoming fact, as the robot in this story is right out of a recent CGI movie released a few years ago. Those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's, and our friends in Japan, will recall the same story from the manga and anime of Japan's version of Walt Disney, Osmau Tezuka. Tezuka's robot was known in this country as "Astro Boy", in Japan he was called 'the Mighty Atom'. The real robot also goes by the name of Atom. Astro Boy was a humanoid robot in the form of a pre-teenage boy, with super powers. The real robot in the news is very similar to the fictional one, and has the same abilities of flight and physical strength. For the past three years, Atom has been hidden in plain sight, attending public school in Brooklyn. He is so human like in appearance, that his fellow students never knew that he was an android. Atom was an experimental offshoot of a military project to create a robotic soldier._

_Atom flew up to the ISS in the non-man rated SpaceX rocket and spacecraft, to repair the space station which had been damaged by debris resulting from the recent North Korean missile test. After a further systems failure, that resulted in the destabilization of the space station's orbit and possible re-entry into __the earth's atmosphere, Atom was able to lift the space station back into a stable orbit with his own built in rocket power, and several tanks of cryogenic gases used for experiments on the space station._

_We've been told that Atom's artificial intelligence is based on that of a real live boy, which means that __Atom is in many ways an artificial human life form. The President will give him a hero's welcome in Washington when he returns to earth, and a Ticker Tape parade will be held in NYC in his honor later in the week. Additionally the country of Japan has requested his presence for similar honors. It seems that a few years ago, Atom was sent secretly to Japan to help out in the Fukushima disaster. Japan would now like to bestow upon him their thanks, which they couldn't do then because of the secrecy they agreed to. We have more details on this story posted up on our NBC News website."_

******David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn NY**

Mr. Williams ran the video from NBC news on the computer TV monitor screen for the science class. All of the students, except for Cora, were somewhat in shock by what they had just learned. Cora on the other hand was proud of her best friend, and her crush on him was now even deeper.

"I knew all along there was something weird and different about 'Adam the Atom'," Mike Finkle babbled.

Cora gave Mike the evil eye, and shook a fist in his face. Mike cowed away, the last time he had confronted Cora, she had put him in a Half Nelson hold, and nearly ripped his arm off.

"We now now live in a new age, Students," Mr. Williams told the class. "Technology has been expanding and enriching our lives for over a century now. For the past three years you've accepted Atom as one of you, never aware of him as anything but a fellow human being. I don't think we should change that. He's earned our respect and friendship."

******The White House, Oval Office**

The president had been briefed about Atom as soon as NASA had launched the SpaceX Falcon-9 from complex 39B. He had spend several hours on the phone talking with Dr. Tenamann long distance from Japan. It had taken him a few days to digest the information, and to come to a realization over what needed to be done. He wrote up the paperwork for a presidential order, but decided to wait to sign it until he had met Atom in person. However, he doubted that his initial instinct would be wrong. Atom was a sentient life form. Despite his man made, mechanical body and computer brain, he had a human soul and life force. The order that POTUS would sign would declare him to be a full citizen of the United States, with the rights of any human being. Atom was a person, not a device. General Hayes might blow a gasket, but if he did; to hell with him.

The president had made a second decision. He ordered that Air Force One would fly him to California, where Marine One would take him to the flight deck of the USS Enterprise. He would greet Atom in person when he stepped out of the Dragon Spacecraft.

******Dragon**

Atom felt the docking clamps release, and he watched though the forward view port as he drifted away from the space station. The vernier steering rockets then pushed the Dragon further from the ISS. Finally, as the space station became just a small dot in the view port, the Dragon's retro rockets fired, and the spacecraft started to fall from its orbit. Gradually the G forces increased as the spacecraft began its decent toward the earth. Atom sank deeper into the form fitting cot as the forces rose to 3 G's and more. The heat shield began to glow; first red, then orange, and now white hot. Hot plasma surrounded the spacecraft as the heat shield interacted with the upper regions of the atmosphere.

Atom was now in the 'black out' zone where radio communications with Houston was not possible. It would take about seven minutes for the Dragon to pass though the region of maximum heating, before radio communications would be restored. The spacecraft bucked like a wild horse as it fell thought the atmosphere. Finally as it reached denser air and slowed down, the ride became smoother. The first of the parachutes popped open, and the spacecraft slowed even more. As it entered the upper troposphere the main parachutes unfolded.

"_Dragon rescue, this is Houston. Atom do you copy?"_

"Houston, this is Atom. I have main parachute indication and we are in stable decent. How do we look on radar?

"_Atom, this is Houston. We have you on target for splashdown in the Pacific recovery zone. The aircraft carrier Enterprise is waiting for you with some VIP's on board. Have fun!"_

A few minutes later, the Dragon splashed down in the ocean just a few hundred yards to the starboard side of the USS Enterprise. A Navy helicopter dropped a line and hook down to a pair of frogmen already in the water, who connected it up to the spacecraft; and the Dragon was lifted out of the ocean and lowered down to the Enterprise's flight deck.

******Aircraft Carrier, USS Enterprise**

The SpaceX technicians opened the Dragon's hatch, and helped with Atom's egress from the space capsule. A red carpet had been rolled out from the capsule to a reviewing stand where the President was waiting. Atom was a bit embarrassed because he was about to appear in front of the President wearing nothing but his black briefs and red boots. The US commander in chief wasn't a bit put off by that though, and greeted Atom as if his current dress condition was totally normal.

The President made a very short speech as Atom was walked up to the reviewing stand by two Navy, and two Marine officers in full dress uniforms. The US Marine band played an obscure Sousa march, "Transit of Venus".

After being greeted and thanked by the President, Atom was handed a medal for his heroism. The medal was attached to a ribbon that was slipped over his head (Atom was grateful that no one expected to 'pin' a medal on him!).

"We'd like for you to be our honored guest at the White House in a few days, Atom", the president told him. "The first lady and I have planned a reception in your honor. I also understand that the mayor of New York, and the director of the New York Stock Exchange, have scheduled a ticker tape parade in your honor later this week as well."

Atom blushed. He buried his head between his shoulders and replied: "I was only doing what I was built to do. I might have been the only chance the astronauts had, and I knew I could help. I'm no hero, not really."

The Marines and Navy officers standing on the flight deck saluted Atom as he was escorted onto Marine one. Atom was flown back to Washington as the president's guest aboard Air Force One.

******White House, State Dinning Room**

Two days after landing back on earth, a formal dinner was held for Atom in the State Dinning Room of the White House. Accommodations for Atom to stay as the president's house guest had been made, and the president's official tailor measured Atom for a custom tuxedo for him to wear to the occasion. Simon Green and Robert Levinson were sent official invitations, as were Atom's foster parents; Ken'ichi and Sachiko Yamamoto.

It was the usual Washington dinner party, with an assortment of Senators and Diplomats invited. There were two or three highlights, as far as Atom was concerned. The first was totally unexpected. The president had an announcement to make, and he made sure the press was ready to record the proclamation.

"Today we have witnessed a turning point in science, medicine and theology. The very question of being human has now been redefined in my opinion. A few days ago, the world discovered the existence of a person that was created by a scientific experiment that redefined the boundaries of our conception of our own existence. Atom here, has the self awareness and sentience of any flesh and blood human being. Yet, he is not flesh and blood, but the product of advanced technology that I hope is destined to benefit mankind. After meeting him a few days ago I am convinced that he is a unique individual, and not just a machine created for darker purposes. Therefore, I am issuing a presidential order that grants Atom all the rights of a human citizen of this country. He cannot be legally considered to be property owned by any entity. I am abolishing any possible claim that the military might think they have on him due to his creation being the end result of a military project. Atom is from this day forth, free to determine his own destiny, where ever it will lead him."

Atom didn't know what to say about this. He never gave a second thought to his status as a citizen, or even as a person. Simon and Robert both felt a certain sense of relief. While they had never voiced their concern, they had always felt that a threat had hung over Atom's head in the form of General Hayes.

The second thing that happened that evening to Atom's surprise, was the appearance of the Japanese Ambassador to the United States.

"Atom," the ambassador started, "several years ago you willingly gave your service to my country at great risk to yourself. If you hadn't helped out at Fukushima, the extent of that disaster would have been many times worse. At the time, your country's military considered your very existence a top secret and we had to hid your assistance from our people. Now that your existence has been declassified, Japan wants to honor you for your heroism. We'd like you to visit our country as our guest so we may introduce you to our people."

Atom had always felt a bit awkward about his presence in Japan. It was going to be weird enough in the US because of the "Astro Boy" connection. But in Japan where the manga / anime had originated, it would be mega weird. Somehow though, he figured that the ambassador already knew that, and would figure out how to keep his appearance from being an issue.

"I'd like to be able to bring a few of my close friends and family along with me," Atom asked the ambassador.

"Certainly," the ambassador replied. "Just name them."

"Well; Simon Green and Robert Levinson from the research lab where I was created, my foster parents the Yamamotos, and a good friend from school and her parents." Atom replied.

"They will be our guests as well, Atom. We've already invited your father, brother, and grandmother to the ceremonies of course."

The third moment of the evening that was significant to Atom was bumping into General Hayes. Atom had been a little fearful of the general due to Simon's own worries that he tried to keep to himself, but Atom felt anyway. The general offered his hand to Atom and saluted him.

"Congratulations Son," he said. "You've made us proud. This country needed a boost to its self esteem, and you've provided it."

Perhaps the general wasn't as bad a person as he had been led to believe.

******David A. Boody Middle School, Brooklyn**

Atom finally returned home. He wanted to be among his classmates and friends once again. He still had a full schedule ahead of him, but for one day at least, he would be back in familiar surroundings. Atom didn't know what kind of reception he would get when he returned to school. Would the kids treat him as some kind of leper now that they knew what he was? Or would they feel they were now beneath him, that he was some kind of a god? Atom didn't want anything to change.

For the most part, he needn't have worried. The principal was aware of the fact that he would be returning to school, and had made an announcement to the entire school the day before. The students were told to treat Atom just as they had before.

As Atom entered his home room class, he saw that even though he had made his usual early arrival, the classroom was already filled with his fellow schoolmates. There was a chorus of clapping hands and Atom had to run the gauntlet of his friends slapping him on the back, or showing him some other kind of affection. Cora was at the end of the line. She put her inhibitions aside and pulled Atom close to her to plant a long kiss on his lips. As she attended to Atom, several loud wolf whistles resonated in the room. The bell rang for their first class, and several of the larger boys lifted Atom up on their shoulders and carried him to Mr. Wilson's science class. Atom had to duck, as his head passed under several of the hanging ceiling light fixtures along the route.

As soon as the procession had made it to the classroom, the Principal made an announcement over the PA system.

"As you probably know by now, your fellow student and friend Adam Yamamoto, also known as Atom, will be in lower Manhattan tomorrow attending a ticker tape parade in his honor. Any students that wishes to attend the parade will be excused from school. I am declaring tomorrow a school holiday in Atom's honor."

Atom smiled at Cora. "Cora, I want you to sit in the Limo next to me during the parade."

Cora jumped up and down in excitement. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Mr. Wilson realized that trying to teach a class that day would be futile. There was only a week left to the school year anyway, and then the senior class would attend their graduation. As the students were already buzzing about Atom asking questions, he decided that the day's session might best be handled by Atom telling his version of the past week's events.

Atom, stepped up to the front of the room and told his story. He left out the personal details that he new the class wouldn't understand (best not to even try to describe what is was like being an android). He concentrated on the space flight, his repairs to the station, and his interaction with the astronauts. Those were the details that the class wanted to hear any way.

For the rest of the school day, Atom was carried around from class to class and found he had to repeat the narration of his adventure over and over again.

******Wall Street, lower Manhattan**

The next day, Atom found himself sitting in a stretched convertible limo. He sat in the back seat with Cora by his side, his foster parents sat in front of him just behind the driver. The vehicle rolled slowly down the parade route as tons of ticker tape confetti dropped from the buildings lining the route. From time to time the automobile stopped, and Atom had to stand and wave to the crowd standing along the sidewalks. Cora clung to him during those moments, never letting go of Atom's free hand. The parade route ended at City Hall, where the Mayor handed Atom the key to the city. Every network had their television cameras pointed at Atom and Cora on the podium, as they stood beside his honor, the mayor. A microphone was pushed in front of Atom's face, and he was asked to say a few words.

"I'm embarrassed to even be here," Atom said. "I did what I was able to do, because it had to be done. I'm just glad I was able to help. All this," he waved his arms around, "wasn't necessary, but thank you anyway."

******Sheepshead Bay IMAX Theater, Brooklyn**

A week later, the graduating class of David A. Boody Middle School gathered with their parents and guests for their graduation ceremonies. Atom and Cora were among the top of their class, and sat on the stage in honor of their scholastic achievements. Atom had been a little worried that there might be some resentment toward him, now that the class knew what he was; however none of the students, not even Mike Finkle, ever made any remarks about it. He wished that his father and brother could have been in attendance; however he knew he would be seeing them in a few days in Japan, and that Dr. Tenamann was probably busy with the government officials that were arranging for his reception.

The awards ceremony preceded the handing out of the diplomas, and both Atom and Cora received honors for their straight 'A's. Cora also had a perfect attendance award; Atom would have received one, however he had been missing from school for a few days due to his recent adventure in space. He didn't complain about that however, the awards meant nothing to him as he had absolutely no ego to feed.

Finally, the names of the graduating class were read off in alphabetical order. Since Atom was currently using the family name of his foster parents, he was one of the very last to receive his diploma. Then to the tune of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance march, the students left the auditorium to wait in the lobby for their parents. Atom now had High School to look forward to.

******American Airlines, Boeing 777 in route JFK-HND**

As he had promised, the Japanese Ambassador to the US had procured travel arrangements for Atom, his two foster parents, and Cora Smith and her family. Simon Green and Robert Levinson had also been invited. Between them, plus the Ambassador's family, they had the entire first class cabin of the aircraft all to themselves. The first class seats were incredibly large and comfortable, as well as adjustable. Cora sat next to Atom and put their armrests in the up position so they could snuggle together. During the long flight she fell asleep with her head resting on a pillow in Atom's lap. Atom drifted off to sleep himself. He had made this same trip a few years ago; only then he flew under his own power at an altitude of about ten thousand feet higher than the 777 aircraft was currently at, and at over five times the speed. It had been a bit of an emergency, with lives at stake. This time, he could make the trip in comfort, at a more relaxed pace.

Upon their arrival in Tokyo, they were greeted by the American ambassador, the prime minister, and Albert and Adam Tenamann. Atom shook hands with the ambassador and the prime minister before giving Adam, and then his father big hugs. His 'twin' brother was now almost a head taller than him, and had the 'peach fuzz' beginnings of the growth of facial hair. Adam's voice had also dropped about half an octave from the last time the two of them had seen each other. Albert Tenamann saw the look on Cora's face as she compared Atom to his flesh and blood brother. It only confirmed what he had already been thinking.

A Government limo brought the group to their hotel. Atom and his parents had an adjoining room next to Cora and her family. Simon and Bob had adjoining rooms across the hall. All were tired from the trip, and jet lag (except, maybe for Atom). Albert, Adam, and Elizabeth Tenamann had taken a pair of rooms down the hallway. The Tenamanns lived in the outskirts of Osaka, a fair distance from the capital. After a small snack provided by room service, the guests crawled into bed, they needed to be well rested for the morning's ceremonies.

******National Diet Building , Tokyo Government center**

Atom was dressed in the same tuxedo that he had worn at the White House, cleaned and pressed for the occasion. Cora wore a dress that she had picked out. The two of them walked into the Diet Building arm in arm, like a princess with her prince.

The first honor to be paid to Atom was in the Diet Chambers. The full legislative body, the prime minister, and the emperor were present to thank him officially for his assistance during the crisis at Fukushima.

News reporters from Japan's radio and television networks, as well as world wide networks such as CNN had set up their cameras in the isles.

The prime minister gave a speech describing how Atom had secretly entered the country, and had helped stabilize the most critical reactor at the damaged power plant, thus preventing a meltdown that could have left much of the area uninhabitable. He read a declaration that had been passed by the legislative body, granting Atom full citizenship in Japan.

That evening they attended a state dinner at the Edo Castle. It was a full Ball with a band playing dance music of various genres. The Emperor gave a speech honoring Atom, and placed a medal on a ribbon around his neck. The affair went on until the wee hours of the morning. Atom and Cora danced to a waltz, and later a tango. Once again, Albert saw from the look in their eyes that Atom was ready for what he had been planning for.

At one point in the evening, Albert and Atom were together talking when they were met by Makoto Tezuka, the son of the famous manga artist. Makoto asked for their presence at the Tezuka Osmau museum in a few days, for yet another ceremony to honor Atom. Atom and Albert accepted his invitation, and Atom wondered just how this was going to pan out.

******Tezuka Osmau Manga Museum, Takarazuka **

Dr. Tenamann and Adam led the way down the entrance path. Atom followed, hand in hand with Cora. Ken'ichi and Sachiko Yamamoto, Simon Green, and Mr. and Mrs Smith followed behind. Along the way they passed a statue of the Phoenix bird, which figured into a long line of Manga stories that the great artist had worked on throughout his career. As they approached the entrance they came up to a pair of foot and hand prints in concrete, along with Tetsuwan Atom's signature and image. Atom tried the prints on for size. His hands and feet were a bit too large for a perfect fit. Had he tried this two years ago, before he had been 'grown', he would have been exactly the right size. Atom was dressed in a pair of black short pants with a green belt and a plain white tee shirt. He also wore his usual metallic red boots. The outfit had been Makoto's suggestion, and Atom didn't refuse him.

The building was quite distinctive. It was a two story building with a large domed tower at the entrance. The top of this structure was rounded in striped bands, the top had a glass globe nestled halfway into the top of the tower. Along the wall of the second story were inlaid reliefs of some of the characters from Tezuka's "star system". As they entered and looked up, they saw many of the Manga characters painted in glass and illuminated, hanging from the ceiling. In the very center of the montage was Atom's cartoon face. Standing off to the side on a small pedestal, there was a statue of the 'mighty Atom' character. It all seemed too surreal, too incredible to be true. They were in the middle of the inspiration for Dr. Tenamann's whole career, as Albert would later confess to. Sometimes science fiction does become fact.

Makoto Tezuka, greeted the group as they walked in. "Welcome, Atom-san," he said.

Slowly a crowd of people entered front part of the museum where Atom and guests had been standing. They surrounded Atom and one by one touched him out of curiosity. Cameras appeared and Atom stood next to the 'might Atom' statue to pose for the crowd.

Makoto Tezuka still didn't quite seem to believe Atom's presence in the museum. "Forgive me Atom. I've read the reports released from our ministry of science and technology, and the NASA press releases, but I still feel overwhelmed by the idea of my father's story ideas suddenly becoming today's technology."

Atom smiled at him, "Do you need proof? Would you like to see it first hand?"

Makoto asked "What do you mean?"

"Let's step outside," Atom said.

The two of them walked into the court yard at the front of the museum. Atom stepped behind Makoto and put his arms around the man, under his arms. He held him tightly against his chest.

"Don't be afraid. I won't drop you."

The two of them rose slowly upward. Atom flew slowly over the museum and circled around the block before landing in the same spot where they had left the ground a few minutes ago.

Makoto smiled at Atom. "I wish my father had lived to see you Atom. I think he secretly wished that some of his visions would one day come true."

******Japanese Science and Technology Ministry, Takodanobaba **

The next day Atom, Cora and her parents, and Atom's foster parents: Ken'ichi and Sachiko, visited Dr. Tenamann and Adam; at the Japanese Science and Technology. Albert Tenamann had taken up a position at the Ministry after returning to the country following his retirement from the Museum think tank. His laboratory in the S&T Ministry was set up for working with advanced metallurgy, and stem cell research. These, strangely enough, went hand in hand with his current work, the development of new prosthetic devices.

"Hello Ken'ichi-san, Sachiko-chan," Albert said. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other. I'm sorry I missed you before leaving for Japan. I also need to thank you for agreeing to take care of Atom in my absence."

"We're very glad to see you again too, Albert-san," Ken'ichi replied. "Atom has filled a void in our lives, and we both were very happy to foster him."

Albert then explained his present position. "Although I've said that I would retire, the Japanese government made me an offer I couldn't refuse when I emigrated here. In return for my work on certain projects that we both hope will help the aging population of this country, I've been granted access to other technology for my own purposes. It was here that Atom's body was modified two years ago so he would appear to have grown about a half foot taller and three years older. I used the metallurgical properties of the alloy that Atom was built from, and the equipment that was provided for me here, to perform the required mods on Atom." He said.

Cora and Atom were standing together, holding hands. Albert turned to them.

"Cora, do you have feelings for Atom?"

"DAD!" Atom blurted out.

"I have my reasons for asking, Atom. Please indulge me here," Albert said. "Cora?"

"Yes, Dr. Tenamann. I sorta had a crush on Atom the first day I met him at school. He was so much shorter than the other kids and seemed so vulnerable. Then one day I had a terrible experience during which I would have fallen to my death, but Atom came to my rescue. Ever since then I've had this feeling that I couldn't live without him."

"But what about the future. You are growing into a young woman Cora. What will happen between you and Atom in the future?"

"What do you mean, Dad," Atom again interrupted.

"I think Cora might know what I mean, Atom," Albert replied.

"I don't know..." Cora said, though from the sound of her voice it was clear that she did.

"Atom," Cora began. "I think your father is asking me if I think there is a future for us. I don't know. I mean, I thought I loved you. I still think I do. But, will we grow apart, or at least will I while you stand still...?"

"Cora, I think I have the answer to that. But it will have to be Atom's decision. Will you wait here for a bit while I talk to Atom and his foster parents alone?

Albert, Atom and the Yamamoto's walked into Albert's laboratory, Cora stayed behind with her parents.

Albert then began to explain what he had been trying to lead on to.

"When I first constructed you Atom, the purpose was to serve as a body for Adam's mind and soul when we thought that he wasn't going to survive his near fatal accident. I had the means to preserve everything that made Adam what he is, and I wanted to create a body for him to enable him to live out his natural life as if nothing had ever happened to him. I designed a way to do that within the constraints of an android body. Atom, I now want to give you that ability. I've seen that you've formed a caring bond with Cora, and she with you. I want you to have to the opportunity for that kind of relationship to fully blossom, and to experience the full emotional bonds, and the physical pleasures of such a pairing, should it go its full course. In addition, I want Cora to be able to reciprocate her feelings toward you, as if you were a real flesh and blood human being."

"Wait a minute, are we talking about what I think we are talking about? Is that even possible?" Ken'ichi stepped in to the conversation.

"I've taken some of Adam's DNA, and inserted it into stem cells that I created from other cells harvested from his tissues. It was a mostly painless procedure that Adam had agreed to, knowing it was for his brother's benefit. Stem cells can be induced to morph into any kind of body tissue, they hold the key to making replacement parts for the human body. I found a way to create a living nursery of these magic cells, and induce them to replicate human reproductive cells. I then grew a single biomass for this purpose that also performs the function of the prostate. For this living prosthesis, I created an incubator that keeps the biomass nourished and oxygenated without the need for blood circulation."

Albert then showed them the completed prosthesis device. It was a small metal sphere with connections for several tubing lines, and and electrical connections to tie into Atom's body.

"This prosthesis has connections to Atom's systems for nutrients and oxygen to keep the internal biomass alive. Atom already has a primitive digestive system that can provide the simple sugars required from the foods that he already eats. He also breathes air, and I will add a small tank of compressed oxygen for those times that he can't, such as his recent space adventure, or under water activities. Finally, I do have another modification for Atom's body that will have him grow a bit more than another half foot, broaden his shoulders, and change his body profile to one of a male entering puberty. There will also be a small, but import change in his anatomy to add something that I'd overlooked until now."

Atom looked a bit perplexed. Ken'ichi smiled.

"Who is going to explain it to Cora?" he asked.

"I think she will discover all in good time," Albert said. If Atom agrees, I'll perform the modifications in a few days before everyone goes back home. Atom will start school looking like a proper adolescent his age. When he is ready for it, and the time is correct, the new systems will come on line and what is destined to happen, will."

"There is one more thing..."

Albert then produced a small device, a multi faceted crystal cylinder sitting on top of a small metal base. The crystal glowed with a soft dim light.

"The He3 nuclear reactor that powers you has performed very well Atom, but the fuel it uses is quite rare, and you've been using it up at a much higher rate than I originally calculated for. While I do have enough stockpiled for you, to last many years, something a bit better has become available."

"What is that?" Ken'ichi asked.

"Something that the Japanese military obtained from the US Air Force. They have a secret lab deep under the Cheyenne mountain. This little module taps directly into the fabric of the universe to reach energy left over from the big bang."

"Zero point, vacuum energy?" Ken'ichi gasped.

"Exactly!" Albert replied. Once this module is installed in Atom he won't ever need to be refueled again for hundreds of thousands of years."

They returned to the lobby where Cora and her parents waited. Atom looked at her.

"Cora, my dad can modify me so I will again grow. I won't remain a kid, I'll grow up with you. We can be together, if you want"

Cora looked pleased. "I'd like that."

"Cora," Albert looked at her. "Atom will be exactly like any other boy when I've finished the promised modifications."

Cora smiled as if she might have understood the full meaning of what he had just said.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Promise." Albert answered.

Atom looked up at his father. "OK, Dad. I'm ready."

* * *

_Author's notes:_

_This was the longest chapter I've written for a story so far. I considered splitting this one into two, but I really couldn't find a good spot to break it up without making one part too short._

_I decided to add a controversial idea to the end, because I never did like the idea of Atom remaining a child for the rest of his life. My vision for Atom is more like that of R. Daneel Olivaw (Asimov, "The Positronic Man"). I'd already figured out that he could be made to 'grow' via a bit of robot surgery. Now I've figured that he could become a bit more than he was, to become what he is destined to become. I'm sure April7 will be pleased. Future Atom stories will exploit my idea of an 'older' Atom._

_POTUS This is a government / military acronym meaning "President of the United States"_

_The ZPM module idea came from "Stargate SG-1"._


End file.
